


Kairos

by A Crimson Phoenix (cw151)



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Royalty, But not very much violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Modern Royalty, Mutual Pining, Romance, Royalty AU, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 12:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 41,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14105727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cw151/pseuds/A%20Crimson%20Phoenix
Summary: King Francis I. believes his wife and children died in a random, tragic car accident. However, when journalist Karen Page confronts him with discrepancies in the official accident reports, it becomes clear that they were victims of a targeted attack - and that the King is supposed to be next.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This AU just grew bigger and bigger. Please be gentle with me, I usually do not write such large stories and I spent ages making it all fit and sound right. 
> 
> Enjoy!

King Francis I., commonly known as King Frank, sat at the desk in his study and stared at the picture of his late wife, son, and daughter. It had been one and a half years since their death in a car crash; Maria had driven too fast, and the car had spun out of control at a sharp turn and fallen down a bluff bank off the side of the street. Frank’s heart ached as he watched their smiling faces in the picture. To this day, there were moments when Frank couldn’t quite believe that they were all dead; sometimes, he could still hear his son Francis II., known to everyone as Frankie, romp about the Palace, or see his little girl Elisabeth, nicknamed Lisa, hiding in his study out of the corner of his eye. He regularly woke up to the sound of Maria’s soft voice in his ear, only to find the bed next to him empty.

 

The only thing that made him get out of bed every morning were his duties as King; he took his position very seriously, and he had always been a man of routine. When he was eighteen, he joined the army as a regular foot soldier and worked his way up to the Special Forces Division, loving every minute of it. He liked the down-to-earth attitude of the army, he liked fighting for the greater good, and he had made some very good friends along the way: Billy Russo, who’d gone on to found a private security firm called Anvil; Sir Curtis Hoyle, who was working as an ER surgeon at the National Royal Hospital, and David Lieberman, Duke of Bachrach, an analyst who’d been the voice in their ear on missions and who also had founded his own company after his service, offering artificial intelligence tools for big data uses in corporations.

 

Together, they’d fought in several wars to defend the kingdom from rivalling powers. Although they won each time, and Frank was decorated with countless medals in the process, the war had changed him. While he still believed in protecting and serving his country, with every engagement of the enemy he realized more and more that the soldiers on the opposite side were doing the exact same thing, and how they were ultimately just pawns in the bigger game that their government was playing. As a result, he’d been quite happy to leave his military service, even though the reason for his leaving were the sudden stroke and death of his father, then the King (his mother had died many years ago when Frank had still been a child).

 

Maria and the children had been his rock throughout all of the trying times in his life, whether they were traumatic battle episodes, or the loss of his father. Frank and Maria had met at a ball given in the honor of Frank’s 21st birthday. He’d snuck away from all the crazy festivities into the garden with his guitar, and Maria had found him there by accident. They’d started dating right away, and when Maria got pregnant with Lisa three months later, it was just a given for Frank that he would marry her. He loved Maria, he could see himself staying together with her for the rest of their lives, and because he was a man of quick decisions, he proposed to her that very day. The Palace and the country were quite surprised at the quick turn of events, but with their marriage and family remaining scandal-free since then, the hasty wedding was quickly forgotten.

 

Frank was sure that he wouldn’t have survived the first few days after the end of his military service without Maria and the kids. He was utterly distraught by the death of his father, but there was no time to grieve as he was immediately crowned king and expected to take up the King’s duties, from arranging the funeral, to hitting the ground running in managing the country on a daily basis. While he was passionate about ruling the country the best way possible, he’d immediately disliked the representative aspects of his position, like rubbing elbows with other nobles and giving eloquent speeches.  Fortunately, Maria excelled at socializing and curating the right public image, and with her by his side, graceful and diplomatic as she was, they’d made an amazing team. All the while, the kids’ happy spirits - even as they mourned the loss of their grandfather – were contagious, and encouraged Frank to do the best he could to make the future of his country the best possible for his children.

 

However, three months after that, they had died, too. All four of them were scheduled to go to a picnic up in the mountains as they did once a month in spring and summer, but then one of their neighboring country’s key diplomats had called at the last minute, complaining about a recent royal decree that her country considered an affront, and so Frank had been obliged to skip out of the picnic and to diffuse tensions with the political leadership of said country. It had all been very hasty; he’d literally jumped back out of the car at the last minute, and not even his Chief of Personal Security, Countess Samantha Reyes, had realized that he wasn’t with his family until the car had already left.

 

The moment he’d gotten word about his family’s accident just a few minutes after he’d hung up on the diplomat, his blood had turned to ice, and his mind had gotten numb. Curtis, Billy and Lieberman were at his side instantly, and Lord Schoonover, his Chief of National Security and the Military, launched an in-depth investigation. The next few days passed in a haze; they buried Maria, Frank, and Lisa on the graveyard next to the royal chapel while mountains of flowers were left by the people in front of the Palace gates. When Lord Schoonover finally presented Frank with a report saying that the reason for the accident was a mixture of excessive speed on Maria’s end – when they went to their picnics, they always drove themselves to make the outing even more private, while their security team trailed them in the next car – and a slippery road from an oil spill that must have been left by a previous car, he didn’t even care about it anymore. They were dead, that was all that mattered. According to Lord Schoonover, the security detail had done their best to rescue and reanimate his family right away, and so the investigation was closed, and the security detail was never prosecuted for anything. Still, all of them quit on their own volition a few weeks later, citing the horror of the incident. Frank could only understand them too well, so he immediately accepted their resignations and offered them a generous additional compensation for trying to save his family.

 

Since then, Frank had been in a state of limbo. His friends were doing their best to support him through his difficult time, and it helped a lot. Still, a few months after their deaths, Frank more or less stopped talking about his family. The need to do so had not become less - on the contrary, he thought he would never be able to stop thinking about them all the time – but he knew his friends were running out of things to say to make him feel better, and were suffering with him each time. So he resolved not to talk about his family anymore, and to just enjoy the presence of his friends. Still, there were moments when he was scared that he would forget about his family; he’d spend hours staring at their photos and videos, at drawings his children had done, and letters Maria had written to him during his service.

 

That was how he found himself once more staring at the picture of Maria and the kids on his desk when he really should have been studying the treasury’s report on their suggested tax reform. He was completely lost in thought, remembering an evening when the entire Palace had been in a scuffle because Lisa had thought it was a good idea to start a menagerie of 30 lizards in the large doll house of her suite, and the lizards had of course promptly escaped and had raced all over the West Wing.

 

Suddenly, he heard a knock on his door. Viscount Tower, one of his security agents, led in a middle-aged, bearded man with glasses and a worn suit, accompanied by a blonde woman wearing a pencil skirt and blouse.

“Your two o’clock, your Majesty,” Viscount Tower said curtly before he left the room again.

The middle-aged man bowed while his companion curtsied and remained a few steps behind him. Frank frowned. He had no appointments until four o’clock.

 

“Ah, your Majesty, my name is Mitchell Ellison, I’m the editor of the Bulletin. This is one of our reporters, Karen Page. We were working on a profile on you when we came across some information that you might find interesting,” the middle-aged man began.

Frank rested his elbows against the arm rests of his chair but his face remained unmoved. He had no idea what to make of the scene in front of him. Usually, strangers could not just barge in like that, especially commoners who did not belong to the Palace. Reyes was always positioned outside of the door with at least one other bodyguard, and she’d never let unannounced visitors pass through. However, neither of the two seemed threatening, so he decided to continue to listen to what they had to say.

“We believe that a wide range of government officials are plotting to overthrow the throne and to turn this country into a military dictatorship. We have several documents that provide evidence of that, and so we’d like to share this information with you.” The editor swallowed nervously.

 

Frank remained still. Were these people for real? He stared at the man in front of him for a few moments.

Finally, he scoffed lightly. “Is that so?” he asked in a mocking tone.

At that, the blonde woman in the back – Karen Page, as the editor had called her – took a few quick steps towards his desk and threw a manila folder in front of him. Mr. Mitchell called her name and tried to pull her back as she fixed Frank with a heated gaze.

“This is real. They didn’t stop at your family, and they won’t stop at you. We’ve talked to three different experts, your family’s accident simply could not have happened the way the official report said it did,” she said urgently.

Frank’s eyes darted around her face and he could suddenly feel his pulse in his ears.

“What are you saying? _What are you saying_?” he demanded agitatedly.

Suddenly, Reyes’ muffled voice could be heard through the door. “WHAT? Who’s in there? Open the door, now!”

Ms. Page finally let herself be pulled back a few steps by Mr. Ellison, but kept her eyes fixed on Frank.

“It’s all in there,” she said. “We want to keep this country safe, just like you.”

 

Barely a second later, the door burst open and revealed an angry Reyes.

“You two, out! How dare you pretend to have an appointment to get his Majesty to see you!” she fumed, flanked by two bodyguards who reached for the intruders’ elbows and maneuvered them outside. Frank’s eyes followed them, and he had to swallow at the intense gaze Ms. Page managed to throw at him just before she was pulled from the room.

Frank quickly covered the file Ms. Page had left him with his lower arms.

“I’m so sorry, your Majesty. I was out for lunch and the two lied to Viscount Tower that they had an appointment with you. I will make sure the Viscount will be disciplined accordingly,” Reyes said as she bowed.

Frank set his jaw.

“Easy, easy. No harm done. Just tell him not to let it happen again, that’s enough,” he said, eager to get her off his back so he could take a look at the folder Ms. Page had left him.

Reyes nodded unhappily – Frank knew that she liked to run a tight ship – and excused herself. As soon as she’d closed the door behind her, Frank turned the folder the right way and opened it.

 

As Ms. Page had said, the folder contained statements from three different experts who had used the details of the official report on the death of his family to reconstruct the accident, and had come to the conclusion that it couldn’t have happened the way the official documents said, as neither the times of departure from the Palace, nor of the accident, and nor of the rescue added up with the speed that Maria had driven according to GPS details given. Also, the way the car had gone off the road suggested that it had moved without the breaks having been used. All in all, all experts agreed that based on the information given and on a reconstruction of the car’s journey starting with its departure from the Palace, it was almost certain that either the breaks had been tampered with or that Maria had been unconscious the moment the car had approached the deadly turn, and that there must have been a significant delay between the accident itself and the ambulance being called, a time frame that could have been critical to the survival of both driver and passengers. 

 

Frank breathed deeply and slammed the folder shut. His mind was racing, and he jumped up from his chair. It felt as if his world was turning upside down. What on earth was going on?


	2. Chapter 2

“… all I’m saying is that we gotta be smart about whatever we’re doing next. We’re on shaky ground, we need to be really careful. This is the Palace and the King we’re dealing with, for God’s sake,” Ellison said as he was standing opposite the large desk in Karen’s office the next morning. “I don’t need to remind you that if we get anyone in the Palace against us it can cause us a lot of trouble.”  
“I know,” Karen replied impatiently. “But I also think that we should try to contact the King again. He deserves to know that there is something seriously wrong with what they have told him about his family’s accident. Did you see him yesterday? He was so anxious when we told him about the experts we talked to.”   
“Yes, and you did leave the information on that with him. But before we should do anything else we have to get a lot more information on how big this thing really is because – “ Ellison was interrupted by a knock on the door. Before Karen could ask the person on the opposite side to enter, the door flew open and revealed Countess Reyes. 

Karen threw a quick look at Ellison and got up from her seat.   
“Countess Reyes! To what do we owe the pleasure?” she asked politely. Eliza, the bulletin’s receptionist appeared behind the Countess with an apologetic look on her face. Karen gestured to her not to worry about it, and Eliza gingerly pulled the door closed again.   
Reyes narrowed her eyes.   
“Oh, don’t play coy with me, Ms. Page. You are going to tell me exactly what it is that you and your boss were doing at his Majesty’s office yesterday, or I will make sure that both of your journalistic careers in this country are over,” she spat, underlining her words by pointing her finger at Karen.   
“We’re really sorry about yesterday. It was a simple misunderstanding. We’re writing a profile on his Majesty the King and wanted to give him the chance to include some of his own comments. We requested an appointment, and there was an internal mix-up here at our office. We thought that the appointment had been confirmed when it wasn’t,” Ellison jumped in without batting an eye. Karen scoffed internally. For someone who was as truth-loving as Ellison, he sure could serve up a lot of bullshit. 

Reyes must have thought something similar as she took a deep breath and fixed him with a murderous stare.   
“You don’t honestly expect me to believe that, do you?” she snorted. “All of you journalists are the same. Always on the look-out for some cheap paparazzi picture to fill your gossip columns. You’d be better off admitting to trying to what you were really doing. In that case, we might only take away your newspaper’s press passes for official functions and announcements.”  
“We are an investigative newspaper, not a gossip magazine,” Ellison replied icily. “And secondly, as I told you, all of this was a simple misunderstanding.”  
Countess Reyes’ eyes flared and she seemed ready to launch into a tirade when she was suddenly interrupted by another knock on the door. 

“Ah, yes!” Karen yelled quickly.   
Eliza stuck her head through the door once again.   
“Please excuse me, Miss Page, but there is a Lord Mahoney sent by his Majesty the King here to see you?” she said, nervously looking around.   
“Uh, of course, please, bring him in,” Karen said and looked at Countess Reyes with an overly polite smile. “I’m sure you’ll pardon the interruption, won’t you?”  
Countess Reyes’ face remained contorted with rage but she didn’t say a word. Karen exchanged another quick look with Ellison before she turned her attention towards Lord Mahoney, who entered the room with a wide smile.   
“Mr. Ellison, Ms. Page, thank you for receiving me on such short notice. I am Lord Mahoney, the Chief of Administrative Staff for his Majesty the King. Countess Reyes,” he added with a quick nod to her.  
“Mahoney, what brings you here? If you’re here to explain the consequences of barging in on the King unannounced, I got it covered already, don’t worry,” Reyes said with a saccharine smile.   
Lord Mahoney’s face remained friendly but became impenetrable.   
“I’m sure you are,” he said before turning back to Karen and Ellison. “But I’m here to convey his Majesty’s sincere apologies for having forgotten about the appointment that you had scheduled with him for yesterday. He is deeply sorry about the way that you were treated as a result of this misunderstanding, especially given the fact that he thinks that the profile that you are preparing on him is a wonderful project that he would very much like to contribute to.”

Ellison’s eyes flicked to Karen, and she had to concentrate to keep her expression neutral while she was cheering on the inside. So they did manage to get the King’s interest and best of all, for some lucky reason, he’d thought of the very same excuse Ellison had. 

“Thank you very much, Lord Mahoney. There is nothing his Majesty has to apologize for. These things can happen after all. Of course, we’re overjoyed to hear that he would like to contribute to the profile on him,” Ellison said.   
Lord Mahoney gave him a satisfied nod. “Countess Reyes, as you can see, the matter has been resolved. I’m sure that you are eager to get back to his Majesty, so please do not let me keep you,” he said in a voice that left no room for an argument.   
Reyes looked like she was about to explode. She made a strangled noise and turned to Karen one last time.   
“I take his Majesty’s safety very seriously. Should you do anything that endangers him, I will take action, I promise you that,” she said before stalking from the room without another word. 

“Alright then,” Lord Mahoney said. “Could you please gather your things? The King would like to speak to you as soon as possible.”   
“Of course, we –“ Ellison began.   
“I’m sorry, but the King would like to talk to Ms. Page alone,” Lord Mahoney said.   
“Absolutely not,” Ellison shot back. “Karen is…”“I’ll do it,” Karen interrupted him. Ellison looked at her exasperatedly.   
“Excuse me, Lord Mahoney, could you please give us two a moment? Miss Page will be out in just a second,” he said firmly.   
Lord Mahoney gave him a curt nod and left the room, closing the door behind him.   
“Karen, you can’t do this alone. We barely have an idea how big this thing really is and who’s involved in it. It’s extremely dangerous,” Ellison said insistently as Karen stuffed documents from all over her office into her big purse.   
“He trusts me, Ellison. It’s our way in and I’m taking it. I promise to keep you updated. Please,” she asked, fixing him with a beseeching look.   
Ellison sighed. “Ok, fine. But keep your phone on you at all times, alright?”   
Karen nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

Three quarters of an hour later, Karen was led into a large library. The King was sitting on a large sofa in the middle of it, and closed the book that he’d been reading. Karen looked around her admiringly. The day before, she didn’t really have time to pay close attention to her surroundings, but now, she couldn’t help but gawk. The library looked like it came straight from a movie; it had different levels of light, wooden bookshelves that needed ladders for access; there were huge floor-to-ceiling windows on the right side, and several very comfortable looking reading nooks such seats in front of all the windows. Golden figurines and stucco decoration covered the walls, and in the middle of the ceiling was a huge picture depicting the old god Apollo.

 

The King rose as Karen approached him, Countess Reyes in her back, and Karen curtsied in front of him.

“Miss Page, thank you very much for accepting my apologies and for following my invitation on such short notice,” the King said, his tone matter-of-factly and his expression serious.

“She had this in her purse.” Reyes dangled the gun Karen took with her wherever she went from one of her fingers.

“I’ve got a concealed carry permit,” Karen added quickly, not wanting to look like an assassin. “Investigative journalists make more enemies than friends, I’m afraid.”

King Frank made a noncommittal noise.

“You’ll get it back when you leave,” Countess Reyes said. The King gave her a sign with his hand, and she bowed and left the room, Karen’s gun in hand.

 

The King gestured to an arm chair next to his sofa, and Karen lowered herself on to it.

“.380, huh? .380 shows thought,” he said in reference to Karen’s gun. Karen smiled awkwardly, not really sure what to say to that. There was a very good reason why she’d acquainted herself closely with guns, but she certainly couldn’t tell the King of all people about that. So she just bent down to her purse to get her notebook and her pen out.

 

“Thank you for agreeing to contribute to the profile the Bulletin is preparing about you, your Majesty,” Karen said nervously as she rolled the pen in her hand. “Would you like to – “

“My family,” the King interrupted her. “What do you know?”

Karen swallowed.

“Mostly what it says in the files that I gave you yesterday. There is no way that the accident could have happened the way the official report says it did. We think that the accident was an assassination,” she said, trying her best not to fidget under the King’s impenetrable stare.

“By who?” the King asked, his voice rough.

“We don’t know yet. But all signs point to a cover-up. Do you remember Baron Henderson – Gunner – who served in the war with you? He used to work for the coroner’s office after he left the military. He came to our office two weeks ago and told us that he thought that the autopsy reports of your family must have been doctored. The coroner’s office was setting up a new filing system, and while working on the reordering all the documents, he noticed that the injuries shown in the pictures of the autopsy reports of your family could not have killed them on impact. Instead, the way he read the records, he thinks your family must have suffocated when someone blocked their nose and mouths when they were unconscious after the accident,” she said, trying to keep her voice even.

 

The King’s jaw twitched.

 

“Apparently, Baron Henderson tried to contact you via Countess Reyes and Lord Schoonover,” Karen continued. “But neither of them got back to him, nor did their offices allowed him to see you. That’s why he came to us. The next day, he was found dead next to his hunting lodge, supposedly after having killed himself by accident when he cleaned his rifle.”

“Horseshit,” the King said, and Karen blinked at his language. “He was a soldier. He knew to clean a gun only when it’s empty.”

“Yeah, that’s we thought. Also, the coincidence is just a bit too large. The days after that, we were very careful to watch our backs, but nothing happened, so we don’t think that whoever was keeping him from you knew he’d come to see us. But still, we wanted to let you know. When we couldn’t get an official appointment either, we decided to sneak our way in,” Karen explained.

The King huffed and scowled. “So, someone killed my family. What makes you think that’s part of a putsch?” he asked.

 

“Um, there are signs that parts of the military have formed a shadow organization, led by someone who calls himself Agent Orange, and his right hand, called the Blacksmith. For years the Bulletin has been getting tips on those two and the very illegal things they were doing. For example, they’re using military equipment to smuggle heroin into the country, to the point that they are now the biggest suppliers of heroin in the market. According to our estimations, they must be making millions with that every year. The police know about the two but never goes after them for whatever reason, even if there is very concrete information when and where the next deal happens. But that’s not even the worst of it. They’ve got a personal kill squad that is taking out people that are in their way left and right, criminals and honest citizens the like. One old lady accidentally witnessed one of their heroin deliveries and was shot on the spot,” Karen recounted. “But whatever happens, there is never an investigation, so we believe that a part of the police is paid off by them as well.”

 

She paused.

 

“The reason we think that they’re going to become even more dangerous – and especially to you – is from one of our sources, George Bach, who used to work as a janitor at the Ministry of Defense. One night as he was cleaning the war room, he overheard a meeting between Agent Orange and the Blacksmith and taped it. Audio only, and he never saw them because he was too scared to be discovered, but it’s better than nothing,” Karen said. She took out her phone and played the recording.

 

_“How are we doing on the recruitment?”_ the voice of one man could be heard.

_“Real good,”_ another voice could be heard saying. _“We’ve penetrated about 30% of all forces. That should be enough to ensure compliance.”_

_“Make sure they are prepared. When the big day comes, they have to be ready at a moment’s notice. The setup took a while, but now we’ve got all our bases covered. We can’t afford to make any more mistakes,”_ the voice of the first man replied _._

_“I know that,” the second man was clearly irritated. “You just make sure we got our shooter in place.”_

_“Don’t worry about that,”_ the first man spoke again _. “The King won’t know what hit him.”_

King Frank had rested his forearms on his knees as he listened to the recording.

Karen bit her lip.

“Do you happen to know any of those voices?” she asked quietly.

 

The King wiped his face with the palms of his hands.

“Yeah, I do. Both of them. That’s Lord Schoonover, Chief of the Military, and Lord Rawlins, Chief of the National Intelligence Agency,” he said curtly. His face betrayed no emotion.

 

Karen was impressed that he was able to remain so calm when hearing that someone was trying to kill him.

She raised her eyebrows and swallowed.

“That complicates things,” she murmured.

“Yeah,” the King replied. “And if it’s true what they say and they’ve infiltrated all forces, then we gotta find out who they have on their side before we do anything. Otherwise, we may cut off the head but it’ll just be replaced by someone else.”

“Okay,” Karen said slowly. “Shall we inform Countess Reyes?”

“No, we’re telling no-one. F’ all we know, Reyes ‘s in on it, too,” the King said. He fixed her with a stern gaze. “Got that?”

Karen nodded quickly.

“Ok, but we got to do something,” she said.

King Frank rolled his head back. “We need more information.”

 

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, typed something, and held it to his ear. After a few seconds, he spoke.

“Yeah, listen, it’s me. You gotta find me anything you can on the guys that were my family’s security detail on the day they died. Their names were Muller, James, and Olstein or something, alright? ’m sure you can check the rosters. I need to know where I can find them,” he said gruffly. Karen heard a man reply on the other hand, but his voice was too muffled for her to understand anything.

 

“And also… if there’s anything you happen to find about someone plotting to assassinate my ass, collect that, too, ok? … Yeah, it looks like it. Thing is, Schoonover and Rawlins seem to be in on it, so we gotta keep it on the down low.” The voice of whoever he was talking to sounded agitated, and King Frank rolled his eyes as he listened for a few seconds. “Don’t worry, I’m keeping my eyes open, alright? Thanks man. And send what you get on them on a secure connection to Karen Page at the Bulletin? Don’t send that shit to me, don’t know if they’re tracking what I’m doin’ on my computer,” the King added. “And don’t tell no-one ‘bout this, I mean it.”

 

Karen lowered her head to hide the smile that was tugging at the corners of her mouth. The rumors definitely were true. The King could be very true to his name when he spoke.

“Thanks Lieberman,” the King finally said and hung up. “He’ll send you something by tomorrow.”

Karen nodded. The King’s eyes darted around the room, and as Karen watched him, she completely understood all those magazines and gossip programs swooning over their Head of State. He was extremely good looking with his intense, brown eyes that were emphasized by his full beard. The King was known for his relatively simple clothes, and right now, he was indeed wearing a dark grey, cable-knitted sweater with a large standing lapel, paired with dark blue jeans and practical boots. It showed his sporty side, and highlighted his down-to-earth attitude that had made him a favorite with people from all walks of life.

 

“Are you ok?” Karen asked when the King still hadn’t said anything after a few minutes.

King Frank shook his head as if to clear it.

“’s just – they killed my family. My wife. Frankie. My Lisa. For what? Power?” he said bitterly.

Karen’s gaze got soft and she was trying to think of what to say that wouldn’t sound trite. What _could_ you say to a man who lost so much?

 

“Sometimes I just… I guess  I worry that the memories are just going to go away,” the King suddenly admitted softly. His gaze fell on to a large antique chest in the corner of the room and his expression became distant. Karen swallowed. She knew that feeling far too well.

“My son, Frankie, he used to take a handful of cookies from the kitchens and take ‘em and hide ‘em in that chest. You know, he’d play soldier. Guard it, protect it. Then he’d fall asleep over there. We’d find him… He’d be sleeping on a pile of… pile of cookie crumbs,” he recounted with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I um… When I was a little girl, I did the same thing,” Karen told him sympathetically, wistfully thinking back to her family’s old country house with the yellow walls. “Except – ginger snaps and, um, broom closet.”

“Oh yeah?” the King replied with a gentle smile that curved one side of his mouth and looked quite endearing.

Karen nodded and tried to keep her expression warm and kind. “Pretended it was a spaceship to take me far away.”

“Did ya? Yeah… I guess we need that, right? We need to get away sometimes,” the King replied with a wistful expression.

 

“I, uh, I read that Frankie liked to draw, and that Lisa had a whole wall devoted to her sports trophies,” Karen added softly, hoping that she could help him with his memories at least.

King Frank closed his eyes briefly.

“Yeah, I was gone a lot so I didn’t… I missed a lot of that,” he said with a swallow.

“And, uh, didn’t one of them have this huge collection of plastic dinosaurs?” Karen asked gently as her mind tried to remember any information she had on the royal family.

 

“Those were my little girl’s, those were Lisa’s. When she was little, she used to make these little noises when she played with them,” the King said. His eyes were shining, and his voice was close to breaking.

“Look, your Majesty, it’s really not for me to say … but they clearly loved you. Very much. All of us could see it,” Karen said, her voice trembling lightly as she recalled the paparazzi videos of Frank II. and Lisa racing to greet her father when he embarked from the airplane that brought his unit home, and Queen Maria’s happy smile in the background.

The King nodded shortly and took a deep breath but didn’t look at her.

 

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said finally.

“For what?” Karen asked with a light frown.

“You helped me remember,” the King replied, clearly shaken.

“You’re welcome, your Majesty,” Karen said with a soft smile.

“Call me Frank,” the King said, his voice still rough. “Please.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

When Karen came home that evening, her flat mate Trish was already having dinner on the couch while watching a movie.

 

“Hey, how was your day?” Trish asked as she turned the volume on the TV down.

Karen toed off her heels.

“Really good, actually. Turns out the King actually liked the profile Ellison and I are preparing about him and he wants to contribute, so I got to go to the Palace today,” Karen said and shrugged out of her coat.

“Wow, that’s amazing, Karen! Congratulations. The King hardly ever talks to journalists,” Trish said warmly.

Karen walked over to their kitchenette and moved some leftover take-out from the fridge and to the microwave. When she turned back to Trish, she ran a hand through her hair. She didn’t like lying to one of her best friends, but she also didn’t want to get Trish into any danger from Agent Orange.

 

“Yeah, we’re really happy. Especially given that the King was ready to meet me so quickly,” she replied as she crossed her arms.

“Meet _you_? As in, without Ellison?” Trish asked, ever the smart radio host that she was. Of course she’d pick up on that. Karen rolled her eyes.

“Yes, the King wanted to meet only me,” Karen said as she turned around and got a plate from one of the cabinets.

“Interesting,” Trish said smugly. “And what did you two talk about?”

“Ah, nothing much, really. Mostly some of the research that I’ve done so far, and, uh, his family,” Karen said, her back still to Trish.

 

“You’re going to get quotes on his family? No-one’s got that so far! Only the official statements from the Palace!” The excitement in Trish’s voice was tangible.

“I’m not actually sure if they’re quotes, and I don’t even want to print what he said on them, to be honest. He shared some very private stories with me, and he was still very emotional when he told them,” Karen said. As a matter of fact, it hadn’t even occurred to her to include what the King had told her this afternoon in the profile.

“Hm,” Trish made an understanding noise. “But you did talk about stuff that you _can_ use, right?”

 

The microwave dinged and Karen emptied the take-out container on the plate, grabbed some cutlery, and settled on the couch next to Trish.

“Yeah, later on. Told me a bit about his time in the military, about his education, and his plans for the Kingdom,” she offered before digging into her plate.

“And what is he like? I’ve heard from people over at the Domestic Broadcasting Corporation that he can be really scary, is that true?” Trish asked eagerly.

 

Karen paused for a moment and tilted her head. Thinking back at her two encounters with the King, he certainly hadn’t appeared cheery or convivial. He was focused and direct, but never rude, and even if he wasn’t the glamorous type, there was something charming about his honesty and those small smiles that made his eyes twinkle. And whatever he said about those close to him was defined by an immense kindness and care that was extremely rare. Karen told Trish as much.

 

“And is it true that he talks very – frankly?” Trish laughed at the pun that was well used throughout the media. “Or do you think that’s an act?”

“Nah, it’s just like he talks. It’s definitely not the most diplomatic manner of speaking, but whatever he says, he’s honest. At least it seems like it,” Karen replied.

“He always seems like a nice guy,” Trish said thoughtfully and put her empty plate on the coffee table. “I wonder if he’ll get married again someday. I remember when he and Queen Maria got married. The Prince and the Countess, so in love that the whole world could see it. Their wedding was like something straight out of a Disney movie, him in his dress uniform and her in that ball gown. Wasn’t there a picture going around online that compared them to a still from one of the movies? Anyway, he clearly loved her.”

Karen nodded slowly as she chewed and then swallowed.

“Yeah, I’m not sure if he’s ever going to marry again,” Karen, thinking back to his pained expression earlier that day. “He’s still mourning, and I don’t even know if he can ever move on from that.”

“Well, _if_ he marries again, it’ll be one lucky lady,” Trish said, getting up from the sofa.

Karen nodded absent-mindedly. “Yeah.”

 

 

 

The next day, Karen was alone in the office as it was the weekend. She was just scouring the Bulletin’s archives for any information on Lords Rawlins and Schoonover when her phone rang.

 

“Miss Page, it is so good to speak to you. My name is Micro and the King asked me to do some research for him which, as I understand, will be safest in your hands,” a man’s voice said jovially when Karen picked up.

“Micro, your Grace? I thought you’re David Lieberman, the Duke of - ,” Karen started cautiously and was interrupted by a sigh on the other end.

“Come on, this is a secret mission, so I’m Micro. None of that ‘your Grace’ stuff,” Lieberman said.

“Alright,” Karen said bemusedly.

 

She’d already done a bit of research on the man, but hadn’t been able to learn more than that he was a close friend of the King’s since they’d served together in the military, that he had a wife and two kids, that he had one of the largest Duchies in the country, and that he was running a Big Data Consulting Company these days.

“So, _Micro_ , I’m assuming that your research has been successful?”

“That is correct. As a matter of fact, your printer should start to print two pages of information exactly now,” Micro replied, and true to his word, Karen’s printer jumped into action without her having entered anything on her computer.

Karen walked over and picked up the pages.

“Yeah, I got them,” she confirmed.

“Good. This is all I could find so far, but I’ll keep digging,” Micro said. “I will also send you a link, user name, and password to a secure server where I’d like you to upload any research you have, to keep it safe. You’ll get the information on that server separately. You’re also going to receive an e-mail from secured address that you can contact me on, if need be.”

“Ah, sure thing. Thank you, Micro,” Karen said, feeling only the slightest bit stupid calling him by that name.

“You’re very welcome,” Micro replied with a light chuckle before the line disconnected.

 

Karen immediately walked back to her desk and wrote a short e-mail to an address the King had asked her to use. It was just his personal one that his assistants had access to as well, because the King thought that it would be much less suspicious if there actually was a regular exchange with the journalist writing a profile on him. So Karen had to resort to coding her messages. She informed him that she’d gotten a hold of the documents he’d suggested to her, and that she was available to continue their discussion after having read them at his convenience.

 

Once she’d sent off the e-mail, she settled back into her chair and carefully read through the information Micro had sent. He’d found a few more names of people who were likely to be on Rawlins and Schoonover’s side, and some digital trails regarding the alteration of both the accident and autopsy reports of the King’s family. Muller, James, and Olstein had left the country right after they’d quit their jobs at the palace and had all but disappeared.  Finally, he’d discovered what he thought were secret messages to the shadow organization, but hadn’t been able to crack the code in which they were written (yet, anyways). The only thing that he’d been able to decipher was the phrase “November 15th”, which popped up several times in the messages – the day of the King’s birthday.


	5. Chapter 5

This time, Frank received Karen in his study once more. When Countess Reyes ushered her in with another one of her grim stares, Frank inwardly rolled his eyes. He really should have a word with her soon. While his personal security was of course important, he did not like the fact that Reyes made his guests feel uncomfortable on a regular basis. Especially when they were so friendly and kind like Karen. Frank could actually feel his mood lift when she entered the room; Karen’s smile was positively radiating, and her blue eyes were sparkling pleasantly.

 

After he’d offered her coffee and then helped himself to what was probably his tenth cup that day, Karen passed him the printouts from Micro and waited patiently as he studied them.

“Do you think they’re going to try something on your birthday?” Karen asked when he had finally finished reading.

Frank nodded his head slowly. “Looks like it, but they might also have realized that we’re watching them and are now trying to mislead us.”

“Is there anything particular planned for your birthday?” Karen asked, biting her lip in concern.

“A short speech down by the market place in front of the river,” Frank replied as he leant back in his chair.

“Do you think you can cancel that? If you speak at the market place there must be about a million spots from where an assassin would have a clear shot at you, especially if your security team is in on it,” Karen asked.

Frank paused for a second.

“Nah, we’re leaving it as it is. Anything else will raise suspicion. We’ll work with it,” he finally said.

“What do you mean, ‘work with it’?” Karen asked warily.

“’m gonna think about it. But we can turn this to our advantage, especially if they don’t know that we’re on to them,” Frank replied.

Karen’s eyebrows shot up.

“So, what, you’re going to endanger yourself knowingly? What if we can’t stop them?” she asked hotly.

“We’ve got to get them to reveal themselves. That’s the only way,” Frank replied resolutely.

 

Karen stared at him.

 

“No. No, Frank, just, no. We can’t use you as bait. ‘cause that’s what you’re trying to do, right? Bait them?” she asked horrified. “There is too much that could go wrong.”

Frank huffed. “You got a better idea? ’m listening. We gotta figure out who all of them are. The only way is to let them believe they’ve won so whoever’s on their side reveals themselves,” he said insistently.

Karen set her jaw.

“Thought so,” Frank added. “I’ve thought about it. It’s the only way.”

“I still don’t like it. What if they get what they want and you die?” Karen replied grimly, eyes glowering.

“ ’s a possibility. That’s why I prepared this.” Frank pulled a folder with a single piece of paper written in his handwriting and bearing the royal seal from the top drawer of his desk and handed it to Karen who scanned it quickly.

 

“A testament?” she whispered.

“Yeah.” Frank’s voice sounded rough, and he cleared his throat. “ _My_ testament. I’m giving it to you. Keep it safe, and upload it to Micro’s server. If anything goes wrong, leave the country, and have the Bulletin publish this with all of your remaining research.”

Karen stared at the piece of paper in her nimble fingers.

“Why me?” she asked suddenly.

“What?” Frank replied, remembering too late that he should have said “pardon?”. Christ, how much he hated all that fancy speak.

“Why do you give this to me? Why do you trust me? You hardly know me,” Karen asked, her expression guarded.

Frank narrowed his eyes.

“Are you saying you’re going to betray me?” he asked bemusedly.

“No, God, no,” Karen replied quickly. “But – we only met three days ago. How come you trust me with … _everything_? I’m a journalist. Aren’t you worried I’m going to… I don’t know … somehow abuse all this trust in me?”

 

Frank stared at her blankly. To tell the truth, he didn’t actually know why he trusted her. Sure, he’d asked Mahoney and Lieberman to run background checks on her and both had turned up the same things - a few parking tickets, a few complaints to the press council and the police from people who’d been the target of her stories. And one more thing – an incident when Karen had been 18 years old and had shot her stepfather. However, the matter had been ruled self-defense, and Karen had been acquitted without any charges. But all of that wasn’t why he trusted her. He just did. He couldn’t explain why. From the moment he met her, he’d trusted her. And while he was thinking about not telling her his entire plan for his attempted assassination, the only reason for this was that he wanted to keep her safe, rather than that he distrusted her.

 

Frank swallowed and finally focused on her unbelievably blue eyes again.

“I – I don’t know,” he finally said. “I just – I just trust you. ‘s that the right thing to do?”

A strange expression flittered across Karen’s feature, like a mixture of flattery, disbelief, and affection. She cleared her throat.

“Yes, yes, of course,” she said quickly. “Everything you say and give me is safe with me. I promise.”

“Okay,” Frank confirmed.

“Okay,” Karen repeated and let her eyes wander across the testament again.

 

“There’s something else you should know,” Frank said. He wasn’t sure if he should tell her, but the words just seemed to tumble out of his mouth.

Karen looked back at him.

“What’s that?” she asked.

Frank held her gaze steadily but internally, his insides quenched. He was almost certain that Karen would condemn him, maybe even hate him for what he’d say next, and somehow, that thought made him extremely uneasy. However, he also had the strongest urge to share even this deepest thought with her.

 

“ ’m gonna kill those bastards who murdered my family,” he said matter-of-factly. Karen’s eyes grew wide, but she didn’t say anything. “Don’t care if it’s in a one-to-one fight, or by sentencing them to death. One way or another, ’m gonna make them pay for what they did to my family.”

Karen took in a deep breath, and Frank expected her to object. While the death penalty still existed on paper, it was hardly ever used as it was considered inhumane by most people within society.

However, all that Karen quietly said was “okay”.

“Okay,” Frank confirmed, trying to hide his surprise.

“Okay,” Karen repeated once more. After a pause, she added “Uh, is there anything else for today? If not, I should get back to the office. Unfortunately, your profile is not the only thing I’m working on at the moment.”

“That’s all. Message me if you got anythin’ new,” Frank said.

 

Karen rose, and Frank did the same to walk her to the door. When he had just passed his desk, a silver reflection caught the side of his eye; it was perched on the roof of the opposite wing of the Palace that could be seen from his office window. His military training kicked in within the fraction of a second, and he immediately pushed Karen to the floor. When they hit the ground, the room erupted in a deafening pandemonium as countless rounds from a machine gun tattered walls, furniture, and glass.

 

Frank lay on top of Karen, protecting her head from the shards and splinters flying around with his bare hands. Karen was completely motionless und only emitted slight winces. After what felt like an eternity, the fire finally stopped.

Frank lifted his hands off Karen’s head and rolled off her at the same second that Reyes, Tower, and Mahoney burst through the door, their guns drawn.

“You alright?” Frank heaved.

Karen nodded shakily.

Frank briefly closed his eyes and nodded. “Let’s go. Stay down.” He pulled her up and out of the room, past the other three who were creeping towards the window.

 

Outside in the hallway, Frank finally let go of Karen’s hand and looked her up and down. “You sure you’re ok?” he asked. Karen just nodded firmly and moved to stand in front of him, lips pressed into a tight line.

“We need to get you somewhere safe,” she said urgently, her voice low.

Frank shook his head.

“No,” he said curtly. “Don’t think they ‘ere tryin’ to kill me. Think it was the setup for the story of my life being in danger so it’s less surprising when the actual hit comes.”

“What?” Karen hissed, her eyes glowing. Her hair had come lose from the bun she’d worn earlier and was falling in individual strands across her face. Frank had to force himself not to get distracted by them.

“Whoever this was just now, they let me see him. Used a silver gun. Nobody does that, it’s too easy to detect. They wanted me to see so I’d get out of the way,” he insisted. “And if with Rawlins and Schoonover behind it, they’d absolutely know how to kill me with one shot. They’re trying to make this look unprofessional on purpose.”

Disbelief spread across Karen’s features.

“Are you serious? Frank – “ Her tirade was interrupted by the arrival of a bunch of additional bodyguards. Frank impatiently gestured for them to proceed to his study, when Reyes, Tower, and Mahoney exited it that very moment.

Frank turned to them, and Karen’s lip returned to forming a grim line.

 

“I’ve radioed all units to secure the parameter. The shooter won’t get very far. Are you hurt, your Majesty?” Reyes asked, her eyes searching his body.

“Nah,” Frank replied gruffly.

“And you, Miss Page?” Reyes turned to Karen who shook her head.

“Alright, then I must ask you to stay for just a bit longer, Miss Page, and to give us an account of what just happened in there, after we’ve questioned his Majesty,” Reyes said overly politely.

Karen rubbed her forehead. “I didn’t see anything that I could tell you about. The first thing I remember was F- his Majesty pushing me to the floor and the noise of the gun fire starting,” she replied. While she understood that the King’s security wanted to know anything and everything about the shooting, she really didn’t have anything to tell them and wasn’t in the mood for hours of interrogation.

“Are you sure you didn’t see anything?” Countess Reyes probed further. “Some of it may come back if we – “

“No,” Frank cut in. “I’ll tell you everything, K- Miss Page was caught off guard, as she told you, she doesn’t know anything. Lord Mahoney, call one of my safe cars to take Miss Page back to her office and accompany her.”

 

Lord Mahoney nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Countess Reyes shot Frank a dark look, but he really didn’t care and directed his attention towards Karen instead, who was adjusting the strap of her handbag and crossed her arms in front of her, avoiding his gaze.

“Miss Page, let me walk you to the door,” he offered, gesturing towards the front door of the suite with his head. Karen followed him slowly.

“If I’m right this is gonna be all over the news. You gotta write about it, too; you ‘ere on the scene. Jus’ wait to see if anyone else breaks the story first and what story they’re spinnin’,” Frank whispered.

 

Karen just nodded, and Mahoney appeared next to them.

“Make sure she gets back safely,” Frank instructed him and then turned back to Karen. “Let me know if there is anything unusual or if you’re not feeling well.”

Karen nodded once more, biting her lip. She lifted her eyes to his, and her gaze seemed to bore right into his soul.

“Take care,” she whispered. Then she turned and followed Lord Mahoney out of the door.


	6. Chapter 6

About an hour later, Lord Mahoney reported back to Frank just after Lord Schoonover had briefed him on how National Security was working on finding the shooter. Frank was rather proud of himself for being able to keep his poker face around the man that he just wanted to grab and beat to a pulp.

 

“She get back safe?” Frank asked, looking up from the documents he was studying in the library, which he had turned into his make-shift office for the time being. Reyes had protested that starkly. While the library’s large windows overlooked the royal forest and no other parts of the building like Frank’s office, there were technically still ample opportunities to hide a shooter in the first line of trees of the forest.

 

Frank, however, was becoming increasingly convinced that this first assassination attempt was only a farce. It’d been done so unprofessionally, especially if his Chiefs of Security and Intelligence were involved. They knew how to take out a target out quietly, with just one shot, if they wanted. As a matter of fact, Schoonover had taught him that very thing. So Frank firmly believed that this was just the setup to make the actual assassination on his birthday look much less suspicious.

 

“Yeah,” Mahoney confirmed. “Walked her all the way up to her floor. She was already typin’ away on the story for this on her phone.”

Frank nodded. “Thanks,” he said, turning his attention back to the document in front of him.

“She seems like a hell of a woman,” Mahoney added after a few seconds. “Almost killed but was barely rattled.”

Frank made a noncommittal noise.

“Beautiful, too,” Mahoney continued. “Blonde hair, blue eyes, pretty face.”

Frank’s head shot back up.

“What you tryin’ to say?” he asked impatiently.

Mahoney sighed.

“You like her?” he asked directly.

Frank scowled. “Wha’?”

“Do you like her?” Mahoney repeated. “ ‘cos I can tell you right now that people are gonna start gossiping soon. She’s around you a lot, she’s beautiful, you actually smile when she’s there. Not to mention that you were ready to use your body to protect her this morning. Yeah, we saw.”

Frank let out a long breath. “That was the training. Good for us, too, or otherwise both of us ‘d be dead.” He fixed Mahoney with a firm stare. “And of course Miss Page is around me a lot. She’s writing a profile on me.” He scoffed and shook his head. “Gossiping,” he muttered under his breath. “You tell those gossipers that they got no idea what they’re talking about, alright? Tell ‘em to focus on their own business.”

Mahoney made a defensive gesture. “ ‘m just sayin’, as an advisor – be prepared that people are gonna start talking. Especially with her being a commoner and all.”

 

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and a second later, Reyes stepped in.

“Please excuse the interruption,” she said. “Mr. Russo is here to see you.”

“Tell ‘im to come in,” Frank commanded. Then he turned back to Mahoney. “Lord Mahoney, excuse us, please?”

 

Mahoney nodded, bowed briefly, and then made his retreat past Billy, who entered the library with a confident stride.

“Your Majesty!” he called out mockingly with a wide grin.

“Russo, you know goddamn well that I don’t want you callin’ me that,” Frank replied with an irked voice. He got up and the two of them hugged briefly.

“Heard you’re a wanted man these days. A shooting right here in the Palace?” Russo said as he settled on to a couch opposite Frank, folding his right ankle on top of his left knee.

 

Frank made a dismissive gesture.

“Just some nut who didn’t know what he was doin’,” he said with a shrug.

Billy frowned. “So, you’re not concerned about your safety at all?” he asked surprised.

“Nah, ‘m sure Schoonover’s gonna find the asshole. Must be plenty of videos of him on Palace grounds,” Frank replied evasively.

 

He really didn’t like lying to Billy. Billy had been his first and best friend at the military; the two of them had rose the ranks together, had had each other’s backs in countless battles, and gone through thick and thin. They were brothers in the life and death kind of way. But despite all of that, Frank thought that it was safer to not let Billy in on the assassination plot against him; for one, because he really didn’t want to endanger any other people he cared about, even if it was another Special Forces soldier, and secondly, because Billy’s security company Anvil worked very closely with various executive branches, which significantly increased the risk of Schoonover and Rawlins finding out that Frank knew that they were out to get him.

 

Billy raised an eyebrow and nodded appreciatively.

“Well, in case you need any security reinforcements, you know who to call,” he joked.


	7. Chapter 7

Frank was right.

 

Less than half an hour after the shooting had taken place, it popped up all over the news. “SHOOTING AT THE PALACE – KING SAFE”, “ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT OF HM THE KING”, “SHOOTS FIRED AT HM” were only a few examples, and all of them cited anonymous sources until the Palace released an official statement. The social networks exploded with an outpouring of anger and support, and interestingly, showed once again how popular the King really was, even as critics regularly attacked him not just for his policies, but for his supposed lack of representative abilities.

 

Luckily, Karen had already messaged Ellison and typed up most of the story when they reached the Bulletin, and so they were ready to publish her first-hand account only minutes after everyone else’s anonymous-source stories. Ellison had immediately come to the office – it was a Sunday that day – and was torn between giddiness about being the only paper with a journalist who’d been at one of the most important incidents of the year, possibly even the decade, and worry about Karen.

“Are you sure we should continue with this? What if next time, they get you too?” he asked.

Karen rolled her eyes. She was just uploading the testament to the secure server, as requested by Frank.

“Obviously I can’t guarantee that won’t happen. But we just can’t give up now. We’re getting close, and the people deserve to know what is going on,” she replied impatiently.

“Ok, fine. But be extra careful, ok? I mean it,” Ellison conceded. “Have you been checked out by a doctor?”

Karen shook her head.

“Ok, then that’s your order for the rest of the day. Go get yourself checked out by Dr. Wightman,” Ellison said firmly. “And then go _home_. I don’t want to see you here again until tomorrow afternoon, alright?”

 

Dr. Wightman, the Doctor that worked on-call for the Bulletin on a retainer, only discovered a few minor cuts that Karen hadn’t noticed and covered them in plasters. Apart from that, there were only a few bruises forming on Karen’s hip, shoulder, and knees from when Frank had tackled her to the ground. When she left the doctor’s office, Karen went to a nearby supermarket and picked up a few ingredients to cook dinner. It was the late afternoon by now, and cooking was the best use of her time that she could think of. She wanted time to process the events of the day, and just watching TV or surfing the web weren’t going to help. She needed quiet.

 

When she got home, she texted Trish who was out with a friend that she was preparing dinner so they wouldn’t need take-out that evening, and also reassured her roommate that she was fine when she saw that Trish had left her countless messages once she’d read the Bulletin article.

 

When they were having dinner together, Trish of course demanded that Karen tell her the whole shooting story again and not to leave out any details. Karen edited the story a little bit, just like she’d done for the Bulletin, to make it sound like she’d been there to discuss the profile again, but then explained truthfully how Frank had spotted the shooter and pushed her to the floor.

 

“If it weren’t for his military training, things definitely would have ended very differently from us,” Karen concluded. She took a sip from the wine they were having with dinner, and blushed as she suddenly had to think of how Frank had thrown himself on top of her. Until now, she’d been too focused on the point of the shooting and how it all happened to reflect on how the _King_ of all people had protected her. Thinking back to it, she realized that she’d actually felt safe in that moment, with Frank’s large hands encasing her head and his wide, muscular frame covering her almost entirely. It also hadn’t felt awkward at all.

 

“What?” Trish asked suspiciously. “I know that look. What else was there?”

Karen ran a finger across the edge of her wine glass and didn’t quite look at her. Then she cleared her throat.

“Ah, the King essentially tackled me to the ground. As in, he ended up on top of me,” she said, squirming slightly.

Trish raised her eyebrows. “Don’t tell me he accidentally touched your boobs in the process or something.”

“No! No,” Karen added quickly. “I was on my side, anyway. But he – he kind of shielded me from everything. He … he covered me almost completely with his body.” She took another sip of her wine to hide her face. She really didn’t know what to think of Frank’s actions.

 

Trish’s facial expression was thrilled.

“He must totally like you,” she said excitedly.

Karen frowned. “Actually, I think he’s just a selfless person. He’s very considerate,” she replied, thinking back on how Frank had stopped Reyes from putting her through a pointless interrogation. “But, uh, anyway, your station also reported on the shooting really quickly. How did you find out about it?” she asked to change the subject.

 

“Really? _That’s_ what we’re going to talk about right now? And not the King’s crush on you?” Trish asked and rapidly blinked her eyes.

“There is no crush. And yes, how did your station find out about the shooting?” Karen insisted.

Trish sighed. “Fine,” she said petulantly. “It wasn’t any of our usual sources, actually, but one of the press secretaries herself. Nancy Torres, I think. We confirmed that she’s actually working at the Palace, and she’s one of the regular PR secretaries there. Asked to cite the source as anonymous.  And then about half an hour later we got the official statement from the Head Press Secretary.”

“So it was a leak,” Karen said. She got her phone out and typed a quick e-mail about it to Micro, and also one to Frank telling him that she’d welcome his statement on the shooting any time in the next few days.

“Seems like it,” Trish said. “Maybe the little secretary also wanted her 15 minutes, even if she couldn’t actually put her name on it.”


	8. Chapter 8

By now, the library felt oddly familiar to Karen, even if it had changed slightly. Frank was using it as his office now and had brought in the desk from his office. It was relatively unscathed from the attack the day prior. However, Frank was not sitting at it but back on the sofa where Karen had first met him officially. There was a laptop on the coffee table in front of him, and Frank stared at it in what seemed to be frustration. When Countess Reyes and Karen approached him, Frank wiped his face and stood up.

“Miss Page, welcome back,” Frank greeted her. Reyes retreated again and closed the door behind her.

 

Karen placed her bag on the floor and sank into an arm chair that Frank offered her with his hand.

“Writer’s block?” Karen asked with an amused smile when she saw the empty Word document on the laptop screen.

“Kinda,” Frank replied as he offered her coffee. While there was an elegant, porcelain tea set on the table, Frank had the coffee in a thermos and poured it in to two large mugs.

 

“What are you trying to write? Maybe I can help. I kinda write a lot,” Karen said with a mirthful smile that drew an amused chuckle from Frank.

“ ‘s about the birthday celebration at the end of the week. I gotta give a speech, and there are things I wanna say, but I just – I can’t get the words right,” Frank huffed.

“Maybe you could use a speech writer? A lot of politicians have them,” Karen offered when she lightly blew her coffee.

“Tried that, but they never made it sound like me. Always felt like it was someone else talkin’,” Frank replied. “But don’t worry about it, ‘m gonna work it out somehow. What I wanna know is – you ok?”

Karen gave him a perplexed nod.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” she asked.

Frank looked at her with a perusing stare. “ ‘cos we ended up in a warzone yesterday. Most civilians don’t take to that too well.”

Karen lowered her eyes and scoffed. “Yeah, well, I can handle it.”

Frank chuckled. “Maybe this isn’t your first rodeo,” he said, trying to catch her eyes.

 

Karen’s heart sped up. She knew that the Palace must have done some extensive background checks on her, but there was just no way that they could know all that her past had to offer. At least she sincerely hoped so. She could feel that little voice starting to whisper into her ear again, the one that left her panicked and paranoid in the depth of the night and in her weakest moments, but did her best to squash it immediately.

“Maybe it isn’t,” she finally said quietly. Frank just looked at her calmly, and somehow, Karen got the feeling that he understood and didn’t judge her.

“I’m an investigative journalist, you know. We lead dangerous lives,” she joked to lighten the mood a little bit.

“ ’m sure you do,” Frank replied with a chuckle. Then he got serious. “And, uh, can I ask why you’re helping me?”

 

Karen just stared at him questioningly.

 

“As you say, you’re an investigative journalist. You already got everything you need to know for your story. If you publish now, you’re ahead of everyone else, gonna make a ton of money. But you’re here, protectin’ me. Why?”

“Because I believe that you’re worth protecting,” Karen replied calmly and Frank huffed.

“I don’t like everything that you do,” Karen continued. “As a matter of fact, there are quite a few of your policies that need to change and I’ve written about that extensively. But … you’ve also already made a lot of changes that have made life better for a lot of people, like when you cut the royal revenues and put that money into the education and healthcare system first thing when you started out. Or when you created the National Council as representatives of the people. A lot of the nobility really made your life difficult about those moves, but I think it shows that ultimately, you’re gonna do much more good than harm. You’re honest, you don’t lie to me - or to the public. You’re a good person, Frank, and – I think you should have a real shot at showing the world what you can do.”

 

Frank smirked.

 

“You really think that, huh?” he asked. His voice sounded like gravel, and Karen had to admit that she really liked that about him. She ran a hand through her hair.

“Yeah, I mean, _if_ you fix the penal code and the eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits, I think you could really take this country somewhere,” she said with a mischievous grin.

Frank scoffed. “Alright, I‘m gonna have to read through your articles for details on that. Right now, ‘m guessin’ that you have new info for me?”

 

Karen quickly updated him on the way the news about the shooting had spread. Frank saw it as confirmation of his theory and made a note of the PR officer who’d tipped off the media.

 

“So, what’s the plan then?” Karen asked. “Today is Monday. Your birthday is on Saturday. If they really try to get you then, what are we going to do?”

“ ‘m working on that,” Frank replied. “Got a few ideas. Probably going to involve faking my death or a coma so we see who those assholes are when they come out of hiding.”

A light shiver ran down Karen’s spine at the thought of it. She just prayed that whatever Frank would come up with would work.

“Okay,” she said. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

“Just keep your eyes and ears open,” Frank said. His eyes fell on to the laptop in front of him that still sported an empty document and he sighed.

“You sure I can’t help you?” Karen asked with a sympathetic smile. “I’d really be happy to.”

Frank seemed to war with himself.

“ ‘k,” he finally said. “But you can’t get annoyed if what you draw up doesn’t end up in the speech. Pissed a lot of writers already, don’t want that to happen to you.”

“I won’t take it personally, I promise,” Karen vowed. She pulled the laptop on to her lap.  “What is it that you’d like to talk about?”

 

Frank mumbled something intelligible under his breath.

 

“I wanna … I wanna thank everyone for trusting in me, yeah? I gotta be honest, every time they publish the approval rating I’m surprised that they think I’m doin’ a good enough job. I know I can’t make everyone happy but… I always wanted to turn this country into the best place possible for … for Frankie and Lisa. A world they’d be happy with and proud of. And, they’re dead now, but I wanna continue doing that, right? For every child in the country.” He slammed his fist onto his thigh. “That’s too fuckin’ sappy. But ‘s true. Ugh.”

 

Karen was typing out what he was saying word for word.

“Anything else?” she asked neutrally.

“Yeah, uh, I know I’ve only been in this job for a short while, and it hasn’t been an easy time, but… I know what needs to be done and I’m working on it. Education, healthcare, social security… my dad left a lot of loose threads. But I’ma close them, yeah? ‘n ‘m gonna work on the military, too… There’s still too much stuff goin’ on in the world for us to scale back on it, so we gotta keep it strong,” Frank added.

“A vision speech, that’s exciting,” Karen said as her eyes danced over the writing once more.

“I guess,” Frank said with a sour expression. He pulled a piece of paper from a stack of documents on the floor next to the coffee table. “Got some notes on what’s planned for everything, too. But just can’t make it sound right.”

Karen raised an eyebrow.

“Well, now you got an expert by your side. Don’t worry, we’re gonna do this,” she said as she started typing away.


	9. Chapter 9

Karen ended up spending the better part of the day with Frank. They worked in companionable silence; Frank reading and typing notes on documents he was supposed to work on, and Karen quietly tapping away on the laptop. At some point, Frank asked the staff to bring them some sandwiches for lunch, and the two of them took a break together, easily talking about this and that. Karen told Frank about her hometown in one of the North-Eastern regions of the country, Frank shared anecdotes from his time growing up in the Palace, and even showed her around the portrait gallery and the Palace’s famous winter gardens. As they walked about, Karen noticed how Frank seemed to be friendly with every single one of the Palace’s staff. While he didn’t stop to chat with each of them or joke around, his manner and tone was respectful and appreciative towards them at all times, and from what she could see, the staff returned this habit in kind.

 

Two days before Frank’s birthday the Palace called inviting Karen for an interview that afternoon to explain the details of the birthday celebrations. Karen caught herself checking her make-up and fixing her hair on the way to the way to Frank but had no time to ponder about it. Frank received her in the garden this time, and gestured for her to follow him. They walked among beautiful statues framed by bare bushes and trees, and Karen thought that the gardens must look incredibly impressive when they were in full bloom in the spring. Right now, it was icy cold and grey, but she could just see the place exploding in bright colors and sweet scents in a few months, while the different fountains that were strewn all over the place would be uncovered and full of water again.

 

“Plan’s in place,” Frank said when they finally stopped. He locked his hands behind his back and stood up straight, looking quite the soldier. “We got help. Lieberman and Curtis. Curtis ‘s a friend of mine from when I served. Trust him with my life.”

Karen just waited for him to continue.

“I’ma wear a light-weight bulletproof vest. Gotta wear a coat anyway, ‘m gonna fit it underneath. Gonna give my speech, and when they hit, ‘m gonna pretend like they got me. Lieberman’s gonna work his magic to direct the ambulance drivers to the National Royal where Curtis works. Curtis declares me DOA, switches me in for someone else’s body, and takes me to Gunner’s lodge where we’re gonna hide out. Got it all prepared already. Lieberman’s gonna track the shooter and when and how Rawlins and Schoonover spring into action, who they’re talking to, and what movement there is anywhere else in the security forces and the administration. Once we know who’s with them, we take over all news channels, go public with all the info we got, show people that I’m not dead, and ‘m gonna order the arrest of Schoonover, Rawlins, and all other people we found out about.”

 

Karen nodded slowly.

 

“Don’t you think that’s a bit dangerous? A vest won’t do anything to protect your head,” she asked grimly.

“Yeah, but a head shot’s gonna look too professional. If they keep goin’ like the other day, they’re gonna go for the body,” Frank replied. “Plus, Lieberman’s identified only 3 spots that got a clean line at my head, and we’re gonna make sure those ‘r gonna get covered.”

Karen wrapped her coat a bit tighter around herself and shivered slightly.

“And where do I come in?” she asked with a frown.

“You gotta get all the info ready to be distributed. Write up the story already so we can send it out anytime. Lieberman’s gonna send you a camera that’s hooked up with his system. You gotta talk into it and tell the story. Show the pieces of evidence and stuff,” Frank stated calmly.

 

Karen blinked.

 

“You mean, talk into a camera that’s hooked up to the entire nation?” she asked in disbelief.

“Hm-hm,” Frank grunted. “You ok with that?”

Karen let out a short breath. “Ah, I guess,” she said hesitantly. “I’ve never talked on TV before, only on radio.”

“Aah, don’t worry ‘bout it. You’re gonna do great. You’re gonna have time to prepare and you’re good with words. ‘n fact, ‘m gonna use the speech you wrote,” Frank replied with a smirk.  

 

A warm, fuzzy feeling spread across Karen’s chest at his words.

 

“Yeah?” she breathed.

Frank pursed his lips and nodded. “Sounds like me,” he added with a smug smile. “Hardly gonna make any changes.”

Karen’s eyes lit up and she smiled happily. Frank fixed her with an affectionate look. “You’re gonna do great, Karen. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

Karen bit her lip and nodded quickly, her eyes still shining brightly. More than just pride, she felt relief at having been able to help Frank find the right words he wanted to say.

Frank’s face turned serious again.

“You gotta do one thing for me, though,” he said. “You gotta stay somewhere that’s not your office or your home all day on Saturday, yeah? Get a hotel or something under a fake name and stay there until this is all over. Promise me,” Frank said urgently. “Keep your gun on you and pack a bag so you’re ready to go any moment. If this thing goes sideways, you gotta leave the country. I know I said it before, but I mean it, Karen. You gotta get out. You gotta be safe.”

 

Karen shook her head resolutely.

 

“No. No Frank, I’m not gonna run and hide when some maniac is trying to take over this country! Say that you die, right, and these men get what they want. They’ll paint themselves as heroes, Frank. Is that what you want? Those scumbags are gonna turn themselves into heroes with no-one ever knowing what they were.” She took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice from quivering. The mere thought of Frank being killed and Rawlins and Schoonover winning sent waves of revulsion through her body. “I will _not_ let that happen, do you hear me? I am going to stay and I am going to fight. I’ll expose them. I’ll write a story about it and let the truth hang them.”

 

Frank’s face turned hard and anger flashed through his eyes.

“If this goes wrong these men are gonna decide what the truth is,” he spat back. “You don’t get to do that! You don’t get to do that! Look, I …. I can’t go in there knowing that you’re not gonna be safe-“

“You don’t have to -“ Karen tried to protest, but Frank cut her off, his face contorted with fury.

“What do you mean I don’t have to keep you safe? My family is gone because they were in the way. They’re gone!” he yelled.

 

Karen closed her eyes as tears of anger and frustration threatened to well up. She heard Frank take a deep breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was soft and almost begging.

“Karen, I …”

Karen opened her eyes again, but refused to look up to him.

Frank lowered his head to her to catch her gaze. “Hey. I cannot let that happen to you, you got that?” he said urgently and his voice broke lightly. “I cannot let that happen. Please.”

 

Karen continued to stoically stare down at the floor in front of her and almost startled when Frank suddenly placed a tender kiss on to her left cheek. Her heart was racing, but she remained perfectly still.

“Stay somewhere safe, be ready to leave,” Frank whispered one last time before he brushed past her in the direction of the Palace.

 

 

Just as Frank said, a parcel with a camera arrived later that night just after Karen came home. It was accompanied by a hand-written note.

 

“ _Battery should last for 8 hours without the cable. Best to set it up in front of a plain white wall or something to make it more difficult to find out where you are. – M._ ”

 

Karen packed the camera away again, and warred with herself about what Frank had asked her earlier. Being ready to run, and actually doing so went against every fiber of her being. However, the pleading look in Frank’s eyes had shook her to the core. It was clear how much he was still suffering from losing his family. From what she’d read, Frank should have been riding with them that day but had been stalled at the last minute. She could only imagine how terrible he must feel, how many times he must have asked himself if he could have prevented the accident, whether things would have gone differently if he’d been there. Plus, he was right – if something went wrong and Schoonover and Rawlins took over, she could be in danger if someone tipped them off on how much time she and Frank had spent together. She let out a loud sigh and started packing a run-a-way bag.


	10. Chapter 10

On the day of Frank’s birthday, Karen said good-bye to Trish in the morning under the pretense of having to work on the weekend and checked into a small hotel on the outskirts of the town with one of the fake IDs she kept for cases when she had to go undercover for her investigations. Her room overlooked the street and the parking lot, which was helpful in case she really needed to leave unnoticed.

 

Karen hung the “do not disturb” sign outside of her door, arranged the room’s desk and chair in front of a plain wall, and carefully laid out all pieces of evidence that she could show in her announcement next to the camera. Then she settled on the foot of the bed with her laptop and turned on the TV. There was nothing left to do now but wait; her article was already finished and uploaded to both the Bulletin server and Micro’s secure server, and she’d already told Ellison as much as he needed to know to be able to publish her article at the right time.

 

The coverage of Frank’s birthday speech had already started. A TV presenter was interviewing fans waiting at the cordon in front of the stage where Frank would be speaking. Most of them were women, and they were very excited about the day’s events. One of them had even brought a birthday cake that she wanted to give to Frank. Many of them had drawn hearts on their cheeks, and there were a lot of posters saying “We love you, Your Majesty” and “Marry me!”. When Karen saw them, she scoffed. Did any of those women really think they’d draw Frank’s romantic attention with that?

 

She was just nibbling on a cupcake she’d picked up on the way to the hotel when a chat

window she’d never seen before popped up on her computer, followed by a chat message.

 

_Don’t worry, it’s just me – M_

_We’ll be able to talk safely on here_

_You can also call me if necessary_

_There is a call and video call function at the bottom_

Karen smiled. Knowing that she could at least talk to Micro in real time somehow made the nervousness that was building in her gut much lighter.

 

_Great_

_I set the camera up_

_OK the way it is?_

_Yep, should be_

_Alright_

_Fingers crossed everything goes well_

Micro replied with a crossed-finger emoji, and Karen turned her attention back to the TV screen. Nothing much happened for another few minutes. Another presenter was introduced on the stage, and Karen tried to scan each picture on the TV for anything suspicious in the background, but without any success.

 

Then Frank’s limo pulled up, flanked by an entourage of police cars and motorcycles. Countess Reyes got out of the front and stood next to the back door while Viscount Towers joined her on the opposite side. As soon as Frank stepped out of the car, the crowd erupted into loud cheers.

 

As Frank had said, he was wearing a coat to hide his bulletproof vest. What Karen hadn’t anticipated was how good the coat it made him look; the collar was turned up, drawing attention to his alert eyes. His dark hair and beard were styled loosely, the coat accentuated the line of his shoulders, and all together, he looked like he’d just stepped out of a fashion magazine.

 

Frank made his line down the many well-wishers at the cordon, always followed by Towers and Reyes whose eyes carefully took in their surroundings. Frank’s smile was guarded, but that wasn’t anything unusual; he’d never been the type to smile dashingly in public. Still, most of the fans he passed swooned, shrieked, and tried to touch him.

 

When one of the women yelled “Kiss me!” and tried to pull Frank toward her, anger flared through Karen. What did these airheads think they were doing? Frank was their ruler, for God’s sake, not some pop star!

Luckily Frank was quick enough to step back. “Easy, easy. Not today, sweetheart,” Karen heard his gravelly voice.  

“Nor any other day you ditz,” Karen murmured as she angrily stuffed the last piece of the cupcake into her mouth and flung the wrapper on the bedside table. The way some people objectified Frank felt offensive to her.  

 

In the meantime, Frank had climbed the stairs to the stage where he was supposed to be speaking. There was a large wall with the royal crest behind him, and Frank fished some note cards from his pocket and stepped in front of a mic at the center of the stage.

 

When he started to speak, that same warm and fuzzy feeling overcame Karen that she’d already felt that day in the Palace gardens. They were her words but also his, and as he had said, he’d barely made any changes to what she’d written. Seeing him deliver the speech, and how entirely genuine and authentic it felt, Karen was almost euphoric that she’d been able to help him find the right words for what he wanted to say.

It seemed that the people felt the same way. Already during the speech, the internet was full of praise for him, and when he finished, both the crowd on the square and the social networks erupted with cheers and appreciation.

 

From what she could see, Frank seemed completely taken aback by the effect that his words had, and for the first time since he arrived, a real smile broke across his features, even if it was still shy.

The city’s mayor, Duke Ori, appeared next to Frank and firmly shook his hand, followed by a parade of other officials. Finally, Frank turned back to the crowd for another wave. Just as he was about to move towards a bunch of children waiting to hand him some kind of birthday present, three shots suddenly rang out, and Frank fell backwards.

 

Karen sat frozen on her bed. Even if she knew that this moment was going to come, even if she knew that Frank was wearing the vest, her heart stopped and her stomach seemed to drop to the floor. Chaos broke out on the stage and on the square, and Karen tried desperately to catch a glimpse of Frank before the camera cut to a “technical difficulties” screen.

Karen pushed her laptop off her lap, jumped off the bed and started walking around the room in quick paces. Then she sat back down and typed a quick message to Micro.

 

_I know you’re busy right now doing your part_

_But if there are any news on the state of him_

_Please let me know, ok?_

 

There was no reply, and Karen nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone rang. It was Ellison.

 

“Just wanted to check – are we still staying on the schedule we agreed to?” he asked nervously.

“Yeah, we’re sticking with it. If anything changes, I’ll let you know,” Karen said impatiently and had to take a deep breath to keep herself calm.

“Okay, just – just let me know,” Ellison replied uneasily. He only knew the bare minimum, that something major was going to happen today and that they had to be ready to publish what she wrote any time for a few days, on Karen’s command. Karen could tell how worried he was, but she really didn’t have the nerve to soothe him right now when she herself was barely keeping it together.

 

She ended the call and went back to the TV. The picture had changed to the station’s news programming, and the two presenters were updating their audience on the latest developments, which were that Frank had been taken away by an ambulance, and that the evacuation of the square had just finished.

 

Karen nervously drummed her fingers against her leg and then pulled the laptop back on to her lap. She willed herself to stay off social media, but did open several news websites.

Then she continued to wait.


	11. Chapter 11

Given that it felt like he had absolutely no space in his mind for the stuff that he was supposed to be doing today, Frank was extremely surprised how well the event went. Most of all, when he gave his speech, he almost forgot about the sniper that was likely lying in hiding somewhere near; instead, the words just seemed to be flowing from his tongue for the first time, and he had the feeling that he was, for once, really able to say what he meant. When he looked at the crowd in front of him, the people were listening attentively, reacting to what he said with gestures and murmurs, and when he was finished, there was a deafening applause that really struck that part inside of him that had tried so desperately for so long to build a real connection to the people of his country.

 

Duke Ori came up beside him, and Frank had to shake a few hands. Afterwards, he turned back to have another look at the audience that was still cheering and clapping. As he took a few steps towards the side of the stage where he was supposed to receive the city’s birthday gift to him, his eyes were suddenly drawn to a window in his direct line of vision. A sniper gun was perched on the windowsill, and even though the scope covered half of the gunner’s face, Frank would have recognized him anywhere.

 

All air swooshed from his lungs, and when the bullets hit him and the pain from the projectiles against his vest felt like punches straight into his insides, his mind was only reeling from one thing.

 

_I would have died for that bastard._

“Russo? As in, Billy Russo who served with us?” Curtis stared at Frank disbelievingly.

Frank just nodded curtly as he quickly tied up the scrubs pants Curtis had given him.

Curtis hastily placed a wig on Frank’s head, and then handed him a large surgical mask to hide his beard.

“I’m sorry man,” he said and paused. “Son of a bitch.”

“Yeah.” Frank’s voice was wavering.

“We gotta hurry. I’m keeping the morgue personnel busy with some paperwork but it won’t be long until they get back down there and more people will want to see your body,” Curtis said as he pushed a duffel bag into Frank’s hand.

 

There was a knock on the door, and Frank quickly moved behind a screen. Curtis asked the caller to enter, and a nurse appeared in the doorway.

“Sir Curtis, here’s the death certificate for you to sign. And, ah, Countess Reyes, the King’s – the late King’s – uh – the bodyguard, she went down to the morgue to see the King one last time. Wouldn’t take no for an answer when we told her we’d have to clear it with you first.”

“Ah, thank you, Nina. Excuse me, please, I got to have a word with the Countess,” Curtis said hurriedly. He shot a warning glance at Frank in passing and then quickly strode out of the door.

 

Two of the King’s bodyguards were posted on the stairs down to the morgue, and Curtis nodded to them as he passed them. When he arrived at the bottom, he could hear Countess Reyes talking to someone and quietly crept to the door of the morgue.

“I’m telling you he was declared DOA,” she hissed into a mic attached to her lapel. Then, after a brief pause, she spat “I’m about to make sure of that! I’ll call you back.”

 

There were several bodies lined up in the room, each covered with a piece of cloth. Reyes uncovered the head of each as she made her way down the line, clearly looking for Frank. Suddenly, Curtis spotted a syringe in her hand and he tensed. Reyes was nearing the last two bodies when Curtis ran up and attacked her from behind.

 

The two of them wrestled for a moment, but finally, Curtis managed to turn Reyes’ hand with the syringe towards herself, slammed the needle into her body, and pressed down the plunger.

Reyes heaved and looked like she was about to scream, so Curtis slapped the syringe from her hand and pressed his hand to her mouth. Reyes continued to try to fight him, but eventually, her movements became weaker, and she finally dropped lifelessly to the floor.

 

Curtis lifted her up from the ground, opened one of the coolers, and placed her inside it. Then he took a piece of tissue, used it to pick up the syringe, and disposed of it in the used medical supplies bin.

 

When he passed the bodyguards again on the way back up, they didn’t seem to have heard the commotion downstairs, nor did they seem to pay him any particular attention. As he neared his office, Curtis broke out in a quick step.

 

“We gotta go now,” he hissed at Frank who’d been waiting behind the door.

Curtis quickly shrugged out of his coat, balled it up and threw it on to a chair. Then he picked up his own duffel bag, and he and Frank walked with steady steps towards the staircase that led to the medical personnel’s underground parking lot. Luckily, they didn’t seem to catch anyone’s attention the entire time. While there were huge throngs of people in front of the hospital – paparazzi, journalists, and distraught fans – none of them paid attention to Sir Curtis in his humble Camry. He’d put on sun glasses – luckily, it was a sunny day anyway – and Frank was hiding in the trunk of the car, so there was nothing uncommon about it when Curtis drove by the back entrance security.

When he finally turned on to the main street, Curtis exhaled slowly. Now things were about to really get started.


	12. Chapter 12

_Sorry for the late reply_

_Things went a bit off plan_

_He’s good though, don’t worry_

_A bit banged up but fine_

_She shooter was Billy Russo, Frank’s best friend from service_

_And Reyes was in on it too_

_Tried to make sure he was dead_

_But she’s gone now_

_Both Frank and Curt got out safe_

_They’re on their way to the hideout_

Karen closed her eyes and let her head drop back against the headboard. When she’d first seen the chat window update, she’d almost been too scared to read what it said. It had been two excruciating hours in which Karen kept checking news channels and news websites for any updates but still, nobody knew anything. Now relief washed over her upon hearing that Frank was safe. But then her heart immediately quenched. Two of the people he’d trusted most – especially Billy – had betrayed him. She didn’t even know how she’d react if she were in his place.

 

_Thank you so much for letting me know_

_I’m guessing we’ll continue to sit tight?_

_Yeah, I’m watching the CCTV feeds of the hospital_

_Some people showed up, look like NIA_

_They found Reyes’ body and are talking on the phone_

_Stand by_

Karen dropped her head into her hands and massaged her temples. The chat window stayed still but Karen kept staring at it anyway. After about 10 minutes, another message appeared.

 

_TV!_

Karen looked up and grabbed the remote to turn up the volume.

 

“- _we are just receiving a transmission from Lord Schoonover at the Royal Palace,_ ” one of the presenters said, and then the picture switched to show the Chief of National Security and the Military.

 

“ _It is with great shock and sadness that I must inform you about the death of our King, Francis I. This morning at 11.34 am, three shots were fired at his Majesty by an unidentified gun-man during the King’s birthday celebration at Peter Square. Even though his Majesty was immediately rushed to the National Royal Hospital, he was declared dead on arrival. It seems that the assassination of his Majesty is part of a wider plot to throw this country into an anarchical state, in which even the King Francis’ own Chief of Security, Countess Samantha Reyes, was involved. Please be assured that both I myself and the Chief of National Intelligence will do everything in our power to identify every single traitor that is part of this despicable conspiracy against our King, our country and its people, and that we will ensure that these degenerates will not succeed in what they are trying to do! In the meantime, given that the King was without family at the time of his death, I will take over the governance of our country under a state of emergency. To ensure the safety of the people of this country, and a quick discovery of all traitors in our midst, several emergency decrees will be issued that will be communicated to all media within the next half hour. Until then, please report all suspicious activity to your local police precinct. May God be with us on this wretched day, and may he give us the strength to defend ourselves against those that seek to wreak chaos over our beloved country._ ”

 

Karen’s heart was pounding and she took a deep breath. Things were getting real now. Hearing how Schoonover immediately made use of Reyes’ death by turning her into a traitor, Karen was getting even more worried about the ruthlessness of the putschists.

 

As Schoonover’s transmission ended and the picture returned to the two news presenters, Karen muted the TV again and returned her attention to the chat window.

 

_How long are we supposed to wait until we uncover their plot?_

_Schoonover was all business already_

_The more time we give them the more damage they can do_

 

 

_Frank’s gonna give us the go ahead_

_Not until a few hours or so I think_

_But don’t worry_

_They won’t be able to do too much_

_I’m blocking the use of all important computer systems :D_

_NIA, Military, Ministry of Finance, Police, you name it_

_Wow_

_That’s one piece of good news at least_

_Yep_

_Don’t worry too much_

_Just stay ready ok?_

_Yes of course_

 

For lack of anything better to do, Karen went back to checking the news websites and social media. Needless to say, the entire nation was in a state of complete shock, resulting in a general mix of posts mourning the King’s passing and anger at the supposed anarchist plot. Interestingly, a lot of people didn’t just seem upset about the passing of Frank as the head of their state, but more so, about the passing of him personally, especially after the speech he’d given that morning.

 

By now, it was getting close to 3 pm.  Trish called briefly to check on Karen given how often she’d had visited the King recently, and Karen tried her best to sound surprised, shocked and extremely busy with these breaking news. Then it was silence again, and when the first obituaries for Frank popped up, Karen avoided them studiously. Meanwhile on TV, most presenters were discussing what would happen next; apparently, there wasn’t a clear process in place for the death of a monarch without any immediate or extended family, so no-one actually had a clear answer to that question.

 

Karen dropped back against the bed. How on Earth was she supposed to spend the next hours, if not days, like this? She desperately wished that she could speak to Frank at least. Knowing that he was alive and not badly hurt either was good and all, but it was nowhere enough. Her heart went out to him as she thought about how stressed and worried he must be right now, and she just wanted to be able to do something to help him.

 

But for now, there was nothing she could do but wait.

 


	13. Chapter 13

At around 8 pm Karen was just working on an updated version of her Bulletin article when a video call appeared in the chat window. Karen quickly picked up, and the screen filled with an image of Micro. His hair sat like a curly mop on the top of his head, he had a wiry, full beard, and his crystal blue eyes were wide.

 

“Karen, thank God! Stuff is going majorly sideways right now,” he gasped. “Rawlins and one of his men found Frank and Curtis in their hide-out. Curtis took a shot to the upper body and is lying motionless in a corner from what I can see, and Rawlins is trying to make Frank give him the access to the computer systems. He’s … he’s torturing him. Christ! Why did I not see that Rawlins was tracking Frank down?”

 

Karen felt as if the blood in her veins had turned to ice and she had to remind herself to breathe.

 

“What do we do, Karen? What do we do? I gotta give them access to the systems, I gotta –“ Micro continued as he pulled at his hair.

Karen swallowed and briefly closed her eyes. She knew exactly what Micro meant, and every fiber of her being wanted to take her gun, get the location of their hide-out from Micro, drive over there, and stop Rawlins from ever hurting Frank again. But that wasn’t what Frank would have wanted.

 

“No! No, Micro, Frank would not want us to do that. He’d want us to do our best to stop Rawlins and Schoonover, so you have to keep the systems locked,” she said urgently.

“No, Karen, you can’t imagine what they’re doing to him, God, there’s so much blood everywhere, we have to do something, we can’t … “ Micro’s eyes wandered off screen, stared at something in the distance, and suddenly, he winced.

“Then let’s show everybody,” Karen said determinedly. “Can you get the feed from the video in their hideout on to TV? Show the world what Rawlins is doing and tell the police and the military to resist and to go and save Frank.”

Micro paused and rubbed his beard.

“Yeah, I – I can do that. But then we gotta do the whole thing. You gotta go in front of the camera now and tell them everything you found, ok? I’m gonna make it a split screen,” he said hesitantly.

Karen nodded fiercely.

“Yeah, let’s do that. Come on!”

 

Two minutes later Karen was staring nervously into the camera on the desk. While she’d originally prepared some notecards, she’d now have to wing quite a bit. But it was the only way to save Frank, and she’d make damn sure that he would not die today.

In the corner of her eye, she saw the muted TV programming switch to an image of the interior of some kind of lodge. Frank was tied to a chair, and a white man with short hair was bent over him, yelling at him. Another man was standing in the background; he had dark hair and a dark beard, and if Karen remembered correctly, this was Billy Russo, Frank’s friend and owner of some kind of private security company. A black man with short hair who had to be Curtis was lying hunched over and lifeless in a corner of the room.

 

The camera zoomed in a bit further, and Karen could see how Frank stared stoically ahead as Rawlins was shaking him. Frank’s face and chest were caked with blood, and when Rawlins drew back his hand and punched Frank straight into the face, tears sprung into Karen’s eyes and she jumped.

“Ok, you ready? I’m going to put you live now,” Micro’s voice sounded from the laptop next to the camera.

Karen quickly wiped her eyes and nodded. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and looked straight in the camera.

 

“My name is Karen Page. I am an investigative reporter at the Bulletin,” she began, trying her best to keep her voice even, but she couldn’t prevent her voice from breaking at the next sentence. “Right now you are seeing our King, Frank I., being tortured by Lord Rawlins, the Chief of National Intelligence. Contrary to what Lord Schoonover announced earlier today, our King is alive – at least he still is right now. There was a plot to assassinate his Majesty, but there were no anarchists behind it. It was Lords Schoonover and Rawlins, who wasted no time declaring themselves the rulers when the nation thought that the King had died. Their plot goes deep into several different executive branches of our country and it began more than one and a half years ago when Schoonover and Rawlins killed Queen Maria, Princess Elisabeth, and Prince Francis II. in an orchestrated car crash.” She picked up several documents and held them into the camera. “His Majesty was supposed to be with his family that day, but was stalled by urgent business at the last minute. He survived, and Schoonover and Rawlins continued to infiltrate different government branches. His Majesty found out about their doings earlier this month. It was not clear who of his security forcess had joined the side of those who thought to assassinate him, so he chose to feign his own death and to go into hiding when today’s assassination attempt occurred.” Karen stopped, swallowed and tried to blink the tears away that threatened to well up again. “But as you can see, his Majesty was found out by Rawlins, and now both our King and one of his closest friends are fighting for their lives.”

Her eyes flittered over to the TV screen that was now split between her picture and the interior of the lodge. Rawlins and the other man were shouting at each other, while Frank was still in the chair, unmoving, his chin resting on his chest and blood dripping from his nose. It seemed that he had passed out.

 

Karen bit her lip and balled her hands into fists.

 

“We will now let the coordinates of his Majesty’s location run through the bottom of the screen. I am begging all of you, and especially our executive forces – save him. When he went into hiding, the King made sure that all computer systems needed to run most ministries, departments, and governmental agencies were made inaccessible. Rawlins is trying to make the King give up those systems, but as you can see, his Majesty will not budge. Ever since he came of age King Frank has been willing to give his life for our country. Please don’t let him make that ultimate sacrifice today.”

 

On the video chat window on the laptop, Micro gave her a quick thumbs-up.

 

“For everyone doubting the truth of all of his, we have made all the evidence we have publicly available at a link that you will also see on the screen now, and that we will send to all the news outlets in the nation.” Karen paused and then fixed the camera with an imploring stare. “Help us save our country, please.”

 

“Alright, that’s it. You’re off the air. I’m gonna put this on loop next to the live feed,” Micro said over the video chat. “That was really good! And very effective – if I see this correctly, there are already several law enforcement units on their way to the hideout. Now we just gotta hope that they’re on the right side.”

 

Karen nodded and wiped her eyes and nose with her sleeve.

 

“Good,” she said. “I’m gonna go over there too.”

“What? No, Karen, Frank said that we should both stay where we are,” Micro protested.

“Yeah, that was before shit hit the fan,” Karen spat. “Look, I got a headset for my phone, just call me on there, ok?”

Judging from the way Micro’s face contorted, he clearly wasn’t ok with it, but he sighed.

“Fine.”

 

 

Karen snuck out of the back entrance of the hotel just in case. Her phone rang when she’d just gotten into the car and fumbled to get her keys into the ignition. She picked up, and when she heard Micro’s voice in her ear again, it had a strangely calming effect.

“Just drive carefully, ok? It’s a mess out there right now. Everyone is trying to get to the hideout and they’re blocking all the main roads. I’ll guide you onto an alternative route that will get you there much quicker.”

 

Throughout the ride, Micro also updated her on any other developments that he could track.

“So, it looks like a crowd stormed the HQ of the military where Schoonover is. He ordered the soldiers to shoot at them but most of them refused. The ones that did shoot were taken out by the other soldiers,” he said, some light excitement creeping into his voice.

“What about Frank?” Karen asked as she sped down the road way past any speed limit.

“Uh, he’s ok it seems. Help arrived for him but there’s a struggle,” Micro said carefully.

Karen just set her jaw and pressed the gas pedal down further.


	14. Chapter 14

When Frank looked around him, he was in a space that was … empty. It was difficult to explain; there were no walls, no floors, no ceilings, no colors, no furniture, just – nothing. Maria was standing opposite him with a soft smile. She was wearing that white and blue summer dress that he’d liked so much, and slowly stepped closer. When she reached him, she cupped his bare cheek and Frank leant into the touch.

 

“You never were a quitter,” she said fondly.

Frank closed his eyes and scoffed. “Tha’s how I got you,” he said with a smirk.

Maria chuckled, but her eyes were sad.

“I know you want to stay,” she whispered softly. “I won’t ask you to come with me.”

Frank just hummed and traced Maria’s cheek with his knuckles.

“But if you stay,“ Maria continued as she closed her eyes under his touch. “I want there to be an after for you.”

Frank blinked and frowned.

“You’re going to do a lot of great things, Frank, I always knew that. But I don’t want you to do them alone.” Maria looked at him with that gaze that had always felt like it could uncover even the greatest depths of his soul.

Maria’s look turned urgent as the nothingness around them suddenly seemed to disappear.

“Don’t stay alone, Frank. Don’t.” Maria implored, but her words started to echo, and before Frank could formulate a reply, Maria was gone and Frank was gasping for air in Gunner’s lodge through a mouth full of blood.

 

“… Karen Page. She’s a reporter at the Bulletin. It’s on every single channel. It’s over, Lord Rawlins. We gotta get out of here,” Frank heard Billy’s voice. He slowly opened his eyes and stared down his own chest as his head hung low.

“No! ‘m not gonna let this pathetic scumbag get away with this. There is an order in this country that has been in place for centuries, and I won’t allow some coward King that fancies himself a social justice warrior to abolish all our traditions in an attempt to subvert the natural order of the world. Today it’s a National Council for commoners, tomorrow it’s a forced financial redistribution that’s gonna end in communism! I’ve seen it before all over the world and I’m not gonna give up saving this country. I’m gonna make the military take out anyone who resists, I don’t care how many of them there are. If we can’t get access to the systems, we’ll just get rid of him now and create new ones,” Rawlins raged.

 

Frank’s breathing was labored and he had to blink several times to clear his vision. Then Billy’s voice could be again.

“The whole world sees what we are doing here. Do you really think everyone’s going to listen to us, military or not?” he hissed.

Frank covertly pulled his wrists against his constraints once more. He’d been working on them for what felt like hours, and had felt them gradually become looser. Finally, by whatever piece of dumb luck, they came apart entirely and Frank managed to catch them in his hands to stop them from falling to the floor. There was no reaction from Rawlins or Billy, so Frank assumed that neither of them had noticed.

 

“Right now he’s still alive at least. If we leave now, we can get out of the country before anyone gets us,” Billy continued in a low voice. “I, for one, am going to do exactly that.”

He brushed past Rawlins and made a beeline to the door.

“Russo! Russo!” Rawlins yelled after him. Then he spun back towards Frank, whose head was still hanging low. Out of the corner of his eye Frank saw that Rawlins was holding a Ka-Bar as he came closer.

 

Rawlins roughly pulled Frank’s head back by his hair, and Frank sputtered and coughed when some blood ran down his throat as a result.

“Wake up, Princey-boy, time to die,” Rawlins jeered. There as a manic glint in his eye as he raised the knife high over his head. As he brought it down, though, Frank caught his arm with his hand and pushed Rawlins back. The Chief of NI stumbled back a few steps as Frank rose from the chair and staggered towards him.

 

“You killed my family,” Frank whispered low. “ ‘m gonna make you pay for that. ‘m gonna kill you, right now.”

 

Unadultered hate formed on Rawlins’ features, and he raised his right hand holding the knife once more as he raced towards Frank. Frank blocked him again, and managed to land a firm blow in Rawlins’ stomach that made the man gasp for air. Frank twisted Rawlins’ hand to make him drop the knife, but screamed out when Rawlins’ teeth sank into his upper arm. Rawlins tackled Frank and they both landed on the ground, Rawlins hacking at Frank who barely managed to avoid the attacks. Suddenly, Rawlins managed to pin Frank down and held the knife on to the skin of his throat.

 

“Beg for mercy, come on, beg for your miserable life,” Rawlins taunted, his eyes still crazed.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open, and a woman with dark, short curls and brown eyes broke through it. Her gun was trained at Rawlins, who looked up for less than a second, but it was enough for Frank to take him by surprise. He pushed Rawlins right hand holding the knife to the side with his left arm. Rawlins tumbled to the side, and Frank immediately jumped on top of him. This time, he was able to twist Rawlin’s hand enough to make him drop the Ka-Bar, and Frank gave it a push so it slid across the room. Then Frank settled on top of Rawlins and began to pound on the man’s face, again and again, landing blow after blow like a machine. Soon, Rawlin’s face was essentially unrecognizable, and Frank finally closed his hand around the man’s throat, squeezing it shut.

 

The corner of his vision was tinted red, and he couldn’t hear anything but a loud swooshing in his ears. He dimly registered that someone tried to pull him off Rawlins, but he did his best not to move and to continue to hold on tightly to the throat of the man that had ordered the murder of Maria, Lisa, and Frankie until everything around him turned black.


	15. Chapter 15

When Karen finally arrived at Frank and Curtis’ hideout there were ambulances and police cars everywhere, tinting the forest into flashing hues of red and blue. She hung up on Micro and told him that she’d call him again later, and ignored what seemed like countless missed calls and messages from people she knew and who’d clearly seen her on TV, like Trish, Ellison, and various personal and business contacts.

 

Hordes of police officers, soldiers, and members of the NIA had cordoned off an area around a lodge and tried to keep back civilians and any other officers and agents who’d come to help after Karen’s public appeal. Karen pushed her way to the very front and was met with an open palm by a police officer.

 

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re gonna have to wait behind the tape,” the officer said.

“No, I’m not just … Please, my name is Karen Page, I worked with the King to keep him safe, I need to go and see if he is alright, please,” Karen begged. She couldn’t care less how she sounded right now as long as she’d get to see Frank.

The officer frowned and held a flash light into her face. Karen squinted and raised a hand to shield her eyes.

“You really are her, aren’t you? Alright, come on through. Thank you for telling us what was going on,” the officer said and lifted the tape.

Karen weaseled through and stalked straight towards the lodge. On the way, she came across Sir Curtis, whose unconscious body was just being hauled inside an ambulance.

“Is he – is he going to be ok?” she asked one of the paramedics with a shaky voice.

“Hopefully,” the paramedic replied evasively and shut the doors of the van.

 

Karen shuddered and then briskly moved on, but then her steps slowed as she neared the entrance of the lodge. Police officers and NIA agents moved in and out, but nobody seemed to pay her any mind. When Karen finally stepped through the door, she gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. Frank was just being moved on to a stretcher. He was unconscious and covered in unbelievable amounts of blood. Next to him was what Karen assumed to be Rawlins’ dead body, covered by a white cloth that was also soaked with blood.

 

As Karen rushed towards Frank, a woman with short curly hair stepped in her way.

“Miss Page! I understand that you are concerned for his Majesty but you should really give the paramedics some space. They’re caring for the King as best as they possibly can,” the woman said calmly.

Karen quickly shook her head and blinked at the woman.

“Excuse me, who are you?” she asked tersely.

“I’m Lady Dinah Madani. With Rawlins gone along with his immediate inferiors, I am now acting Chief of the National Intelligence Agency,” the woman replied, still blocking her path.

Karen fixed her with a cold stare.

“Right, Lady Madani. I’m only going to say this once. Get out of my way, now. I have spent the last few weeks doing whatever was in my power to keep the King safe and I will stay with him every second from now on, because this just now was the third time today that someone tried to kill him and I’m gonna make damn sure that there won’t be a fourth. How do I know that you or the paramedics aren’t in on Rawlins’ game, too?” she said through her gritted teeth.

Madani took a long look at her and nodded finally.

“Alright,” she said and stepped out of the way.

 

Karen strode over to Frank and the paramedics who just fixed the belts on top of Frank’s body.

“She’s coming with us,” Madani told the paramedics when they looked at Karen questioningly.

 

Suddenly, the blades of a helicopter could be heard above.

“That’s us,” Madani added, and she and Karen walked alongside the stretcher carrying Frank as the paramedics wheeled it outside. There was ample space for the helicopter to land in the clearing that the lodge was located in, and as soon as it had touched ground, all of them moved towards it.

 

Madani turned around. “Viscount Tower, you’re coming with us, too,” she waved at Frank’s bodyguard who Karen only noticed just now.

“Don’t worry, he’s ok. He and I came here together,” Madani said reassuringly.

Karen nodded and climbed into the helicopter after Frank’s stretcher. She sat right next to him, and her heart broke when she saw his bloodied and bruised face. As the chopper took off, she reached out and weaved her fingers tightly through his, silently begging him to hold on.


	16. Chapter 16

Karen startled when someone touched her shoulder. It was in the early morning, and Karen was dozing in a chair next to Frank’s bed in the National Royal hospital. While his injuries were serious, Frank only needed some minor surgery, under the watchful eyes of Madani, Tower, and Karen as they were following the procedure through the window of the OR. When Frank had been brought into a hospital room afterwards, Madani and Tower had stationed themselves outside of Frank’s room, while Karen had taken up watch by his bedside. Lord Mahoney had come by shortly afterwards to inform them that Schoonover had been detained, along with several other military personnel who’d tried to defend him or who’d attempted to shoot at civilians. The Palace had been secured as well, and Curtis, too had successfully undergone surgery and was recovering in the next room over, accompanied by his girlfriend.

 

It seemed that Madani, Tower, and Mahoney had all become suspicious of what clearly looked like a power grab by Schoonover and Rawlins to them, had found each other, and started working to figure out what was going on exactly even before the torture video was made public. Now they were busy coordinating a vetting of all security personnel in order to figure out who was trustworthy, and to ensure that an overall civil order was maintained throughout the kingdom.

 

Karen had also talked to Ellison. As she was waiting during Frank’s surgery, she’d remembered with a start that she should have posted an edited story for the Bulletin when the national transmission of her speech started. Luckily, when she called Ellison about it, he’d already assumed that she was busy saving the world right now, and so he’d edited the story himself based on what he knew – which was still more than any other paper anyway – and had published it. He told her to focus on getting the world back to order, and that he’d call her if anything major were to happen.

 

When Karen looked up sleepily, Micro was standing next to her. It was strange somehow to see him in person, but more than anything, Karen was happy that somebody else was there who really knew what happened. Karen had told Madani and Tower the gist of it, but while they of course had an interest in making sure that Frank was ok, their primary concern was the wellbeing of their country, rather than Frank as a person.

 

“Hey,” Micro said quietly. “Change of shift.” He chuckled. “You should get some sleep, you’ve been up for more than 24 hours now. I’ll stay with him. You can lie down in the next room. I just wouldn’t go home if I were you; you’ll need personal protection for the next few days, just in case.”

Karen was about to protest but Micro cut her off.

“Come on,” he nudged her.

Karen sighed. “Ok.” Her voice was raspy.

“Madani and Tower are also going to keep an eye on the door to your room, so you can sleep safe and sound,” Micro added.

Karen scoffed. Even if she went and lay down, she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep.

Still, she slowly made her way across the hall and into the next room. A lone bed was standing in it, and Karen toed her shoes off and settled on top of it.

 

The next thing she knew was that she woke from a soft knock on the door. A blonde woman came in; she wore simple yet elegant clothes and a kind smile.

“Hi, I’m Sarah, uh, David’s wife,” she said gently. “I thought you might like a coffee and a sandwich. David tells me you’ve been with Frank the entire time since he was rescued.”

 

Karen rubbed her face and sat up.

“Uh, thank you, your Grace,” she said in a bit of a daze. She took the cup of coffee and held it to her nose. The mere smell of it made her senses wake up properly. “What time is it?” she asked as she took a careful sip.

“Just past two in the afternoon,” Duchess Sarah said.

Karen looked at her in shock. She didn’t realize that she’d slept for so long.

“What? Are there any – any news?” she asked worriedly.

Sarah nodded quickly. “Yes! Yes, don’t worry! Everything’s good. Frank woke up at around 11, the doctors were with him just now for a check-up and he’s doing really well. He’s already trying to get up, even if the doctors keep telling him not to,” she said soothingly.

 

Karen quickly pulled on her shoes.

“I gotta go see him, I’m sorry, I really appreciate the coffee, your Grace, but...” she mumbled as she threw her hand bag over her shoulder. Sarah just stepped out of her way.

“Thanks,” Karen breathed as she hurried over to Frank’s room.

 

Her hand was shaking when she knocked, and when she heard his rough voice call “come in”, her stomach made a backflip.

She gingerly pressed down the handle of the door and let herself into the room. Frank was standing by the foot of his bed, one hand on a mobile infusion rod, in green scrubs.

“Karen,” he chuckled when he saw her. “Heard you made quite a powerful appeal on behalf of my sorry ass last night, ma’am. Could say you saved the country.”

Karen just stared at him and bit her lip. It felt surreal to see him standing there after watching his pale and lifeless body on the operating table barely twelve hours earlier.

She didn’t even realize that she was moving until she was halfway across the room, and when she was finally in front of him, she pulled Frank into a tight hug and buried her face in his shoulder.

 

Frank seemed surprise for a brief second, but then she felt his arms wrap around her just as tightly. His breath danced across the back of her neck, and they just stood like that, swaying slightly, for a few seconds until Karen remembered that she was just a reporter, with no real right to be hugging the King of all people.

 

She sheepishly pulled away from him again, but Frank caught her lower arm and locked his gaze with hers.

“Thank you,” he said earnestly.

Karen smiled weakly. “You’re welcome,” she said quietly. Then she cleared her throat and raised her voice. “Aren’t you supposed to stay in bed?” she asked lightly.

“Kinda,” Frank admitted with a self-conscious smile as he let go of her arm. “But lying around is driving me nuts.”

Karen raised an eyebrow.

“Are you telling me the nation went through this much trouble to save you just so you can now ignore what the doctors are saying and endanger yourself again?” she asked sardonically.

 

Frank rolled his eyes, but at least sat down on the bed.

“How are you doing? I mean, besides the…” Karen gestured around the room.

Frank lowered his gaze and looked at his hands.

“ ‘s okay. Madani, Tower and Mahoney are doing a real good job weedin’ out the bad apples, and Lieberman’s helping them, too,” he said. He paused for a second and then looked up at Karen. “I killed him, Karen. Madani was already in the room, she had a weapon, she could have arrested him right there but she didn’t get the chance. I punched the guy’s face in and then I strangled him until he was dead.”

 

Karen swallowed and carefully lowered herself into a chair opposite Frank. He looked back down at his hands, his shoulders slumped.

 

“Everyone loves my military training, like it’s some kinda proof of my commitment to this country, or some kind of leadership seal that tells them that I know what I’m doin’,” he said quietly. “But none of them understands what it means. None of them gets it. Lieberman says he turned off the live feed when Madani came in, so chance is, people won’t know what I did. Even if they find out, I don’t care. I’d kill that bastard again, same way, anytime. Fact, I’ma kill Billy Russo, too. He was my brother, I trusted him with my life. He took the shot at me in the square. Watched Rawlins torture me. Probably knew what they ‘ere gonna do to my family. I won’t let him do those things and live. Just won’t.” He set his jaw.

 

Karen wasn’t sure what to say to that. She knew what the Special Forces division was like, what their typical missions were – bloody and brutal could be considered an understatement. She also thought that most people in the country knew all of that, and that it was one of the reasons why many people liked Frank. Even when it came to what happened the day before, she actually thought that a lot of the population was secretly impressed how Frank had withstood Rawlins’ torture, not just surviving himself, but also, saving the entire country.

 

She took a breath.

“Look, I obviously can’t speak for the entire nation but… I don’t particularly like what you did, and at the end of the day, we all know that it’s wrong to kill people but those were … bad people. They killed your family, they killed a lot of other people, flooded our country with drugs and tried to take our country by force. And while that doesn’t give you the right to kill them, I can understand, and I think a lot of other people would as well, that you are seeking vengeance after they did what they did,” she said slowly.

Frank just huffed in response.

“I have no idea how people are going to react if they ever find out about you and Rawlins,” Karen continued. “So I’d say just – wait and see, as stupid as that sounds.”

Frank nodded pensively.

 

Karen ran a hand through her hair. “What happens now?” she asked.

“We’re arresting a shit-ton of people,” Frank replied. “It’s a goddamn mess but we’re getting somewhere. At least we got a rough idea of how many there gotta be of them. We’re also gonna take care of the ones that got injured or killed fighting for our side. ‘specially at Military HQ there were a lot of fights. We’re gonna take care of Schoonover, and we’re already trying to track down Russo, too.”

Karen nodded and blinked tiredly. Frank narrowed his eyes at her.

“How’re you? Heard Lieberman made you get some rest. D’you get anythin’ proper to eat?” he asked, fixing her with a worried look.

Karen shrugged. “Yeah, I slept for a few hours. Haven’t eaten in a while, so I think I’m gonna go home soon, unless you still need me?”

Now that she knew that Frank was ok and surrounded by people who were on his side, the excitement and the adrenaline finally wore off and she just wanted to go home and curl up on her bed.

 

Frank shook his head. “Nah, you did more than enough. But we gotta make sure your place is safe first. Russo’s still out there, and we don’t know how many bad guys we got left that might be out to hurt you. I’ll ask Lieberman to check out the situation on your street. There anyone to stay with you? ‘m gonna post some security at your building in any case, but it’d be best if you got someone with you that you trust. Maybe a friend?” Then a funny look crossed his face. “Boyfriend?”

“Yeah,” Karen said with a nod. Karen barely noticed how Frank set his jaw before she caught herself. “Friend I mean. I got a roommate. Her name’s Trish. She’s got her own show on WNEX, Trish Talk. Not sure if you heard about it.”

 

Frank shook his head.

 

“Not much of a radio person. Prefer reading the news,” he replied. “Call her. If she can stay with you, I’ll ask Tower to send a security detail with you.”

Karen raised an eyebrow.

“And if she can’t I don’t get to go home?” she asked with an amused smile. Frank’s face softened as if he’d only just realized how his words must have sounded.

“I’m never gonna stop you from doing what you want,” he said earnestly. “But I also don’t wanna risk your safety in any way. So, just call her, please?”


	17. Chapter 17

According to David, there was no unusual activity on Karen’s street, so Karen called Trish to check where she was. Trish was at the station and spent the first five minutes of their phone call to reprimand Karen for not contacting her earlier. Karen apologized with actual contrition and gave Trish a very quick rundown of the last 24 hours. That seemed to soothe her roommate a bit, and she immediately promised to head home right away and to even get some take-out on the way.

 

When Karen said goodbye to Frank, he pulled her into another tight hug, and Karen found herself thinking what a good hugger he was. It felt as if Frank embraced the other person with his entire being, pulling her so tight that Karen could feel his heart beat and the warmth radiating off his body.

 

“Call me if you need anything. Anytime, ok?” Frank asked. “Lieberman added my contact to your phone. Should be safe to use now. And if anything suspicious happens, also call me, ok?”

Karen nodded.

“When am I going to see you again?” she asked before she could stop herself, but somehow, not knowing was nagging her.

Surprise crossed Frank’s features, as if he hadn’t expected the question at all.

“Tomorrow, probably, or the day after. ‘m sure Madani and Tower are gonna have a lot of questions for you, and also the guy that’s gonna replace Schoonover, Lord Sanderson,” he offered. “That ok?”

Somehow his reply disappointed Karen, but she tried not to let it show, so she just nodded.

“Okay,” she said softly. “See you tomorrow.”

 

Viscount Tower sent three guards with her. The leader of the three, Agent Santiago, shook Karen’s hand firmly.

“Miss Page, thank you so much for your service to this country. What you did was very brave,” she said earnestly, and the other two behind her nodded fiercely.

Karen smiled tiredly and thanked them, but didn’t actually feel like the Agent’s words were warranted. For one, she’d only done what anyone else would have done, and secondly, the only reason why Rawlins and Schoonover had been stopped was because the _people_ took action. But she was too tired to argue, and so she just kept her mouth shut.

 

A driver took them to Karen’s apartment in a bullet-proof vehicle. On the ride over, Karen briefly messaged Ellison, telling him that she was ok, and that she promised to update him properly the next day.

When they arrived at Karen’s building, Trish was already there. Agent Santiago searched every room for good measure, and then posted herself outside of her door with one of the other two agents, while the other guarded the front door.

 

Karen and Trish settled on the couch with their food, and Trish offered Karen a glass of wine.

“Ugh, yes, I really need a drink now,” Karen said eagerly. Ever since she’d stepped into their apartment and changed into some comfortable clothes, it felt as if all the tension of the last two days had fallen off her. All she wanted to do now was to eat and sleep.

“So, that was a successful start into a career in television,” Trish joked as they toasted their wine glasses.

“God no,” Karen sighed and took a sip. “I’m really looking forward to going back to the day-to-day stuff at the Bulletin.”

“I thought so, but in any case, you should be prepared for a lot of TV job offers floating in. And a ton of other offers, for that matter. Book, movie and all that jazz. And the paparazzi. You’re a hero,” Trish said half seriously.

Karen closed her eyes and shook her head.

Trish chuckled. “Anyway, tell me _everything_ , from the very start.”

 

Karen felt as if she was talking for ages. Outside it was getting dark and they had to turn on the lights.

 

“… you should have seen him, Trish. He was so pale and there was blood everywhere. Madani and Tower had him airlifted straight to the National Royal where they took him right to the OR. All three of us were watching when they operated on him ‘cos we were still worried that someone might try something again. Nothing happened, though. When Frank’s surgery was finally over, I stayed with him so he wouldn’t be alone when he woke up. Madani and Tower stayed outside of his door and were coordinating the arrest of all the Rawlins- and Schoonover-allies from there,” Karen narrated. “Frank finally woke up in the late morning, but I wasn’t with him. Micro made me switch places with him in the early morning so I could get some sleep. Fortunately, Frank’s as good as new again already. When I saw him earlier, he was up and about even though the doctors told him to stay in bed.”

Karen rested her elbow against the back of the couch, laid her head on top of it and sighed.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Trish said softly as she twirled the stem of her glass in her hand. Then she fixed Karen with an inquisitive look.

“You really like him, don’t you?” she asked.

Karen sat up, pulled her knees towards her, and buried one of her hands in her hair.

“I just – he’s a good man. He’s honest, he’s kind, and funny, and charming in his own way,” she said, her voice laced with fondness. “When I saw how Rawlins essentially mauled him, I –“ She stopped. “He’s been through so much I was really worried Rawlins would be the last straw. But he’s so strong, and – and brave. I just hope he’s going to find some happiness when the dust has settled. He deserves it.”

 

 

 

Even though she was so worn out and the red wine had made her drowsy, Karen didn’t sleep very well that night. She tossed and turned, and it felt as if she was just dozing all night. Conscious thoughts mingled with dreams, and most of them involved Frank in some form. Or rather, pieces of him. She heard him chuckle, the rumble in his chest when he wrapped his arms around her, and felt his fingers lace through hers. Finally, she woke with a start after feeling his beard on her skin and his lips grazing her cheek. Light was falling through her curtains, and when she raised her head to look over to the clock on her bedside table, it showed 7.30 am.

 

Karen dropped her head back against her pillow with a sigh. She felt completely bone-weary, and couldn’t believe that it was Monday already. When she finally managed to drag herself out of bed and into the kitchen with bleary eyes, Trish was already making breakfast at the kitchen island, fit as a fiddle.

 

“Morning! How are you feeling?” she chirped.

“Like I was hit by a truck,” Karen said and poured herself a cup of coffee. “Didn’t sleep well last night.”

Trish threw her a sympathetic look.

“Well, as I predicted, the world is super excited about you. Did you see how many people have started to follow you on Twitter? People are even contacting me asking me to pass their messages on to you,” she said.

Karen unlocked her phone and checked her notifications. Her e-mail was overflowing with messages, as was were pretty much every single other medium she was on. She had no mind to deal with any of them now, though, and so she just locked the phone again and concentrated on her coffee instead.

 

She arrived at the Bulletin offices just after 9 am, waving off Trish’s attempts to persuade her to take a day off. Agent Santiago and her colleagues had been relieved by an Agent Neil and his team who insisted on driving Karen to work. At first, Karen thought it was ridiculous how they babysat her, but when they neared the Bulletin offices, she was glad that they were with her. There was a throng of people outside of the building, and when Karen got out of the car, shielded by the agents, the crowd cheered and pushed towards her so much that they barely made it inside.

 

Karen felt extremely uneasy about the praise and admiration that the people yelled at her, and she just wanted to get to her office, close the door behind her, and update Ellison on everything that had happened.

However, when she stepped out of the elevator on her floor, all heads in the open-plan section turned to her, and a second later, erupted in loud applause. Karen smiled apprehensively and waved as she made her way to her office in quick steps. She’d barely closed the door and started to take off her coat when there was a knock and Ellison came in.  

 

“Karen! I’m so glad you’re alright,” he said as he hugged her loosely. “And I’m proud of you, if I may say so. What you did was very brave.”

Karen dropped into her chair and pressed the heels of her hand against her eyes.

“I wish everyone would stop saying that,” she murmured. “I’m not a hero, I did what was right. And none of what I did would have mattered if it weren’t for all the people everywhere who stood up against Rawlins and Schoonover’s lackeys.”

Ellison crossed his arms and pursed his lips.

“True, but still. You were the spark to light the flame, and people know it,” he added. “But don’t worry, you’re not getting any special treatment from me. As a matter of fact, I need 2000 words from you about what happened the last two days by one o’clock today. You might want to have a look at the website, we’ve been publishing quite a bit already, but you got the inside scoop.”

Karen nodded. Finally something remotely normal and simple.

 

Once she’d read through the Bulletin’s entire coverage of the putsch so far, all the while ignoring what was now several hundreds of e-mails, she opened a word document and stared blankly at the empty page in front of her. Her colleagues at the Bulletin were good, and had covered the most important stuff already. If she was going to write an article, there was little new factual information she could offer. She also doubted that factual information was what people would be looking for when they read the article on what happened by Karen Page, one of the people who’d been in the middle of it. The _hero_. Karen shuddered briefly at the word, but then froze.

 

That was it. This was what she could write about.


	18. Chapter 18

Karen submitted her article to be proofread just before one o’clock and then stared at her inbox miserably as she unwrapped the sandwich she’d bought off a delivery guy earlier. Even though the whispers and stares by her colleagues had died down a little bit, she preferred to be by herself at the moment.

 

However, that also meant facing the myriad of messages that were still waiting for her. From what she could see at a quick glance, most of them were congratulatory, but every now and then, there were also some threatening ones that accused Karen of staging the putsch together with Frank to further solidify his role, or of supporting a ruler that was just as bad as a dictator. Karen deleted those messages right away. While she could see the point that an absolute monarchy like their country’s was very similar to a dictatorship in terms of power structure, comparing Frank to a dictator was just ludicrous. Aside from Frank being set on the good of the country, they were living in a constitutional monarchy that did provide some legal and structural balances to the King’s power.  

 

Karen sighed and began to reply to the many messages. As the day wore on, she grew increasingly irritated but couldn’t quite put her finger on to why. She had every reason to be elated; on top of reading constant praises of herself in the messages, her article that afternoon quickly developed into one of the Bulletin’s successful pieces ever, breaking website-click records, sharing records, and social media replies and comment records one after the other, and even the Mayor’s office called and finally agreed to an interview on the Mayor’s controversial drug prosecution strategies that Karen had tried to confront him about for over a year now. Still, the longer the day wore on, the crankier she got. She felt restless somehow, and when Ellison sent her home at five, she didn’t even protest.

 

The crowd of people outside of the Bulletin’s office had gotten even bigger, and Karen lowered her head and just flashed a few shy smiles at her as she passed them. She felt bad somehow; she didn’t want all the people who had decided to come see her – or to send her messages, for that matter – to think that she didn’t care for their opinions and their congratulations. However, she still felt like her contribution had been blown out of proportion, and if she was honest, all that attention on her scared her profoundly. While she was used of being at the receiving end of trolls and critics as well as praise, she’d never experienced anything like this. It had also never crossed her mind that people would be so interested in her after her little speech; after all, for her, it had been just another journalistic moment when she had to present evidence of a shocking story to inspire action to stop it. Nothing had prepared her for this kind of response. People were yelling her name, shouted questions from “where you scared?” or “do you think Schoonover deserves the death penalty?” to “what shampoo do you use?” and tried to take pictures of her. She could even make out some journalists from competing publications who were calling out interview requests.

 

With a chagrined expression, Karen slid into the car waiting for her, surrounded by Agent Santiago, who had returned to duty with her team members. She wondered how long it would take for things to return to normal so she could walk home again. Her evening walks were perfect to clear her head, and she couldn’t imagine being flanked by a security detail forever.

 

When they arrived at her building, she gasped at the equally large crowd that had gathered there. Agent Santiago informed her that her team had been reinforced on the King’s command, and that it was now covering all of the building’s entrances and exits, as well as every floor.

 

The mention of Frank calmed Karen down a bit, and she smiled inwardly. He was unbelievably considerate.

 

On the way up to her apartment Karen decided to cook dinner; she still had enough stuff in the fridge, and she couldn’t really see herself just watch TV or equally mundane. If she didn’t get her usual walk home to straighten out her thoughts, she’d try and do so while cooking.

 

Agent Santiago insisted on security sweeping the apartment before Karen went in, and when Karen finally stepped through her front door, she paused and turned back to the bodyguard.

“Do you guys have food? Like, do you get enough to eat? You’re here all day… I’m about to make dinner but I’m not quite sure if I have enough food for all of us, maybe we could order some pizza or something?” she asked.

Agent Santiago gave her a small smile.

“That’s very kind of you, ma’am. But don’t worry, we get enough breaks and have something to eat,” she replied warmly.

Karen nodded.

“Ok, ah, thank you. Good night then,” she said sheepishly. “If there’s anything you need, just tell me.”

She really had no idea how a constant security detail worked, but she figured that if they were going to be around for a while longer, dutifully keeping her safe, she should at least be mindful of them as well.

 

When she’d finally closed the door behind her, Karen toed off her shoes, walked into her bedroom, and dropped face first on to the bed. She stayed like that for a few minutes, and finally pulled herself together enough to get changed and to return to the kitchen. Luckily, their apartment was quite high up on the sixth floor and Karen’s room was facing away from the street, so there was relative quiet despite the people out below.

 

As Karen chopped up some onions, garlic, and vegetables, she thought of her irritation and restlessness earlier that day, and realized that it was still there. It felt as if something was fundamentally wrong, as if there was a puzzle piece missing that she didn’t even know about.

 

Karen swore under her breath, got out a glass and filled it with some of the wine that was left from the day before. When she took a sip, the taste managed to take the edge off her uneasiness at least. She wondered if it was the security situation that was setting her on edge, like all those people that she knew were just outside. Maybe it affected her much more than she’d like to admit. But even so, there wasn’t really anything to get worried about; there was a whole security team all over the building, only concerned with her safety. Frank had made sure of that.

 

Frank.

 

Karen picked up the phone from the counter, found his contact details that Micro had added, and pressed the “message” button.

 

_Thanks for topping up my security detail :)_

_I didn’t really expect that I’d need help with crowd control o_O_

 

She’d barely put the phone back down when it started ringing. When she saw that the caller ID showed Frank’s name, she broke into a wide grin and immediately picked up.

 

“Good evening, ma’am.” There was a chuckle that made his voice rumble pleasantly. “You enjoyin’ your newfound fame?”

Karen winced.

“Not really,” she replied. “I didn’t really expect this kind of reaction, and I still don’t get where it’s coming from.”

 

She heard Frank chuckle again. “Yeah, I read your article. ‘What is it, to be a hero?’”

For whatever reason, hearing that Frank had read her article made her blush.

 

“Yeah, well, people kept calling me a hero, but I was just sitting in a hotel room telling people what was going on. They and you were the ones actually out there,” she replied, taking a few steps and leaning her back against the fridge.

Frank hummed. “Not sure if declaring everyone who resisted heroes helped to put down what you did,” he said slowly. “Humility’s probably just fanning the excitement. You risked a lot by putting your face out there for all to see. If no-one had done anything, Schoonover and Rawlins would’ve tried to find you and take you out. People get that. Appreciate what you risked for them.”

 

Karen made a noncommittal noise.

“What have you been up to?” she asked to change the conversation.

“Setting up new exec forces, mostly,” Frank said. “And still locking up the traitors. Got a good team, though. Madani’s kick-ass, and Mahoney’s showing off what he can do under pressure. Tower’s ok, gotta see how he’s doing in the long run. ‘n Sanderson accepted the position of Military Chief. Curtis is doing really well, too, and definitely enjoying all the attention of his girlfriend given his state. You and Trish got any plans tonight?”

“No, ah, Trish’s still at work, she usually works late Mondays. Was just about to cook myself something,” Karen stated. She pushed away from the fridge and walked back to the counter to play with some of the carrots lying there.

“You’re alone?” Frank’s voice was tense. “Russo’s still out there. ‘s like he’s disappeared. Be better if you had company. You wanna come stay at the Palace?”

 

Karen’s heart warmed at the consideration that was so typically Frank. She ran a hand through her hair and briefly considered his suggestion, but then decided she’d prefer to hole up away from the world for a bit. She had a security detail here, and she’d just be by herself in a strange place if she took Frank up on his offer; it wasn’t like the two of them would hang out. He clearly had a lot on his plate and better things to do than to entertain her.

 

“Thank you, really, but I’ll be fine here,” she said heartily and switched the phone from one ear to the other. “Agents Santiago and Neil and their teams are doing a really good job.”

 

She could almost hear Frank frown through the phone.

 

“Ok, but if there’s anything unusual, you tell Santiago right away, and you call me, too, alright? No matter what time,” he said, worry tingeing his voice.

 

“I will,” Karen promised honestly. She had no desire to risk anything with Frank’s assassin still being on the loose.

 

Frank made a semi-content noise. “Ah, would you – would you be able to come by the Palace tomorrow? Madani and Sanderson wanna ask you some questions, and there’s something I wanna show you,” he said almost shyly.

 

“Of course,” Karen replied quickly. “Just tell me what time.”

“Tomorrow morning? At 10?”

“Sure, no problem,” Karen said as she mentally checked her calendar.

“Good,” Frank stated quietly. “How, uh, how are you holding up, by the way?”

“Ok, I guess. Still processing what happened, I think. What about you? How are you?” she returned the question.

“ ‘m OK,” Frank answered. “Still hurtin’ like a bitch in a lot of places, but ‘s gonna be ok.”

Karen bit her lip.

“And what about the rest?” she asked softly. “Billy was your friend, wasn’t he? And Reyes was in on it, too.”

Frank huffed. “Don’t really care about Reyes. Never really warmed up to her anyway.” He paused. “Billy… Billy’s gonna pay for all that he’s done.”

Karen nodded, more to herself than for Frank.

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “He will. You’re gonna get him. He can’t hide forever.”

“Yeah,” Frank said faintly. Then, there was a knock on wood in the background, and a muffled voice said something.  

Karen could hear Frank tell the other person to wait, and then he spoke to her again.

“Sorry, ‘m gonna have to go,” he said apologetically. “Tomorrow at 10?”

“Yeah,” Karen breathed. “Have a good night.”

“You too,” Frank grunted, and a second later, he’d hung up.

 

Karen placed the phone back on to the counter and returned to chopping the carrots in front of her. He bad mood had dissipated entirely, and she felt extremely happy at the prospect of seeing Frank again the next day. She wondered how he’d have dinner tonight, and then the thought of him here in her kitchen with her flashed through her mind, the two of them cooking together to end their busy days.

 

At that, Karen froze and put down the knife she was holding. A deep breath escaped her lips and she stared at the wall opposite her incredulously.

 

She was in love with Frank.


	19. Chapter 19

“Miss Page just arrived, your Majesty.”

 

Frank grunted a quick thanks and jumped up from his desk that was still in the library. His pit-bull Max raised his head attentively and sat up.

 

“Yeah, come on, boy,” Frank commanded in a low voice, and Max immediately followed him through the Palace’s many corridors. They finally arrived in the entrance hall, and Frank felt as if his steps grew lighter when he spotted the golden glow of Karen’s hair.

 

Max seemed to sense Karen’s importance as he suddenly sped up and raced towards her, tail wagging and tongue hanging from his mouth.

 

“Oh, hello, who are you?” Frank heard her surprised voice as she bent down to pet him. Max clearly enjoyed her ministrations, judging by his soft whimpers and the way he rubbed against her legs. Karen let out a small laugh as clear as bells, and somewhere deep down, Frank felt a small pang of satisfaction at seeing how quickly she got along with Max.

 

“The name’s Max. ‘as supposed to be a guard dog, but his love for attention’s usually getting’ in the way of the guardin’ part,” Frank chuckled.

 

Karen stood back up, and when she looked at him, Frank would have sworn that he room had was getting brighter with her smile. He dismissed the attendant who had waited with Karen with a small nod of his head, and then turned his attention back to her. Somehow, he felt strange standing here with her. He had the urge to hug her in greeting, but that was clearly off-protocol. Luckily, Karen hadn’t curtseyed – if he thought back at the majority of their meetings, she’d only done that at the very beginning – which he was quite happy about. It would have felt wrong if she’d displayed some kind of deference; they’d gone through far too much and had grown far too close for that.

 

Still at a loss on how to greet her the right way, he finally settled for a warm smile and a soft “Hi.”

 

Karen adjusted the strap of her handbag. “Hi,” she replied equally heartfelt. When her eyes fell on his face, her smile faded. For a second, it looked like she was about to reach for his cheek, but then she suddenly withdrew her hand and folded her arms firmly.

“That looks really bad,” she said. “Does it still hurt?”

Frank rubbed his chin self-consciously.

“Looks worse than it feels,” he said truthfully. He had to admit that now that the bruises had bloomed fully, his face did look quite worse for wear, especially with his full beard on top of all the black, blue, and green hues.

Karen nodded imperceptibly. Then her attention was drawn downwards again when Max nudged her legs. She reached down and petted him once more.

  
“Is he new?” she asked.

“Nah, had him for the better part of a year now. Took ‘im to the Lieberman’s estate when you told me about the plans against me. Didn’t know what those assholes were up to ‘n wanted to be safe instead of sorry,” Frank explained. He commanded Max to his heel with a small incline of his head, and Max did as he was told. Even if he was far too trusting he was very well-behaved.

 

“Come on, I wanna show you somethin’,” Frank said. Before he realized what he was doing, he offered Karen his arm. Karen took it hesitantly, and Frank guided her through a few hallways to the gardens. On the way, Frank updated Karen on Schoonover, who would be charged for his crimes the next day, and told her that Lieberman had agreed to fully work for him from now on, albeit in secret to keep out of court politics for which he really had no mind whatsoever. Finally, they reached a part of the gardens that overlooked the city. Groundkeepers were digging up the soil and erected a large iron frame. When Frank and Karen neared, they bowed respectfully.

 

“Thank you. Why don’t you all take a break for a few minutes?” Frank asked. Karen smiled at them, and then slipped her hand from his arm to admire the truly spectacular view.

 

When the gardeners had retreated, Frank moved to stand next to her.

 

“The view is amazing,” Karen breathed, eyes wide.

 

“ ‘m glad you like it,” Frank replied, and he started to feel a bit nervous. He’d been very excited about the idea he was here to show her, but now he was wondering if he’d been wrong about it.

 

“I can’t imagine someone not liking this. It’s unbelievable. This really is a remarkable spot,” Karen added with an impressed expression.

 

“Mh-mh, and it’s gonna get even better,” Frank said carefully. “Asked the groundkeepers to turn this place into a gazebo with its own garden.”

 

Karen raised her eyebrows.

 

“That sounds wonderful,” she said with a faraway smile.

 

“Good,” Frank continued. “ ‘cos i’s gonna be for you. A thank-you for what you did for this country.” He paused. “And for me.”

 

Karen’s gaze snapped to him and she seemed dumbfounded for a second. Then she blinked and shook her head.

 

“Frank, that’s … that’s amazing but I can’t accept that. I … this is too much. Really … besides, Micro deserves at least the same amount of thanks, so… ” she protested and crossed her arms.

 

Frank could feel disappointment creep up on him, but he refused to give up that easily.

 

“Lieberman’s getting his thanks, but it’s gonna be kept on the down-low ‘cos of the nature of what he does,” Frank said calmly. “Look, I know you don’t think you deserve all the thanks people are throwing your way, but what you did mattered a lot. Yeah, you didn’t do all this on your own. But you started it. You turned up in my office and you started our fight back. And then you turned to everyone else and made them fight back, too.” He fixed Karen with a burning gaze, and he could see her resolve slowly start to falter. “But more than anythin’, Karen, you showed me what really happened to my family. You helped me make Schoonover and Rawlins pay. You gotta know what that means to me.”

 

Frank set his jaw and continued to hold Karen’s gaze, trying to convey to her how grateful he was that she’d turned up in his life. Karen swallowed and finally lowered her eyes with a nod.

 

Relief flooded through Frank and he let out a deep breath.

 

“Thank you,” he said earnestly.

 

Karen scoffed. “I think I should be the one thanking you.” She looked around them. “So what kind of flowers are you planning to plant here?”

 

Frank also let his eyes wander.

 

“Most of it ‘s gonna be white roses. But I also wanna include what you like, yeah? So you gotta tell me what yea favorite flowers are,” he said.

 

“Red amaryllis,” Karen said pensively. “I like the intensity of the color.”

 

Frank smirked.

 

“Got it. Thank you, ma’am.”

 


	20. Chapter 20

A few days later, David and Frank were in the living room of Frank’s suite in the Palace. David was setting up Frank’s computer with some security features, and the two of them were bantering as they usually did when Frank’s phone rang all of a sudden. There was no caller phone number, and Frank threw David a glance before he picked up without saying anything.

 

“Hey buddy! Heard you’ve been looking for me?”

Ice-cold fury exploded in Frank’s stomach when he heard the voice of his former best friend. He set his jaw.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Frank replied, his voice sharp like a knife. “ ‘n I’m gonna find ya. You can run, you can hide. But I’m gonna find ya and I’m gonna kill ya.”

“Not unless I kill you first,” Billy replied coldly.

“Yeah,” Frank rasped. “ ‘t was always gonna come down to me ‘n you.”

“I wish I could believe that,” Billy said with a chuckle. “But you see, you’re the King. So I’m gonna get myself some insurance to make sure you stay in line and don’t call in some support.”

 

Frank’s eyes darted to David who was staring at him with wide eyes. There was just a handful of people in the world whose well-being Frank would never risk, and unfortunately, Billy knew of most of them.

“No. This is between us. I’m gonna come wherever you want alone, you got my word,” Frank rasped.

“Nah, I’m really not that stupid. Already got my sight set on someone. Very pretty. Blonde, blue eyes, just my type. And yours as it seems, seeing how much time you’re spending together. Can’t believe you’re ready to betray Maria’s memory so quickly.”

Frank’s entire body was rigid and his knuckles turned white from how tight his grip on the phone was.

“Keep your head down, wait for my instructions or your little girlfriend’s dead,” Billy instructed calmly. “I’ll call you again, so don’t turn off your phone.”

There was a click and the line disconnected.

 

“You gotta find out where Karen is right now,” Frank said curtly to David, who just continued to stare at him.

“Come on, what are you waiting for? Russo’s going after her. We gotta get to her before it’s too late. Could you just find her, please,” Frank urged as he paced up and down.

“Okay, what happens when I find him?” David asked warily.

Frank stopped in front of one of the windows and barely turned his head towards David. His right index finger was twitching.

“What do you think happens?” he asked. “This piece of shit is going after Karen,” he added, more to himself than to David.

“What’s the deal with you two?” David narrowed his eyes and he rested his chin on his hand, partially obscuring his mouth.

“The deal is just that nobody goes after her, okay? Not on my watch,” Frank spat impatiently.

He had no time to explain to David what Karen was to him. As a matter of fact, he’d studiously avoided thinking about that question himself. Ever since the putsch, his mind kept playing tricks on him; it seemed to expect Karen’s presence everywhere in the castle, especially in the library, and more often than not, Frank had found himself asking Karen a question only to discover that she wasn’t there. And since he’d walked her through the gardens on his arm, his brain kept imagining what it would be like to walk through the whole Palace with Karen on his arm, showing her everything and making her laugh. He’d found several excuses to see or speak to her at least once a day, but he couldn’t tell David any of this.

 

Billy, on the other hand, clearly seemed to have realized that Karen mattered to Frank just from whatever surveillance activity he’d run in the last few weeks, but then the two of them had been friends for close to ten years and Billy probably knew Frank better than anyone. That thought made Frank shudder even more.

 

“So you wanna go after this guy?” David asked incredulously.

“You’re goddamn right,” Frank said determinedly. He swore internally. He had to make David understand what was at stake here.

“But this is clearly a trap,” Lieberman argued. “You’re the King. You gotta stay safe. Besides, she’s got her own security team. _You_ assigned them to her. We can call them and let them know what’s happening. Send reinforcements. Don’t you think they can handle this?”

 

Frank spun on his heels.

 

“What would you do if it was Sarah?” he asked breathlessly. “If there was a killer coming after her, what would you do?”

David sat up. “Sarah’s my wife. Sarah’s my family,” he stated firmly.

Frank angrily kicked a chair that was standing next to him. How could fuckin’ Lieberman still not understand?

He strode over to his friend, picked up the chair on the way, planted it soundly next to the couch that David was sitting on, and threw himself on top of it. Then he fixed David with a grim look.

 

“Listen to me. Listen,” Frank nearly pleaded. David leant back, clearly surprised at Frank’s urgency.

“I’m only gonna say this once, okay? So is Karen,” Frank spat. “If something happens to her, I…” He broke into a stutter as the mere thought of something happening to Karen was just too impossible to imagine. He couldn’t lose her too. Instead, he vented his frustration by slapping the palm of his hand on the coffee table with a loud crack and a grunt. “Just…”

“Okay,” David interrupted him, one hand raised appeasingly. At last, realization was dawning on his face.

“Please,” Frank whispered once more with an imploring look.

David nodded and turned to his laptop. Frank stood up with a sigh.

“Thank you,” he said breathlessly.


	21. Chapter 21

Karen should have known that the Mayor, Duke Ori, would not actually answer any of her questions even if he agreed to an interview. He was known for being evasive and vague, both when it came to arranging media meets, and when it came to answering questions properly.

That was how Karen found herself on the top floor of the town hall, sitting on a small living room style suite in the Mayor’s office, trying not to lose her patience as she followed up several times on each of her questions just to get some kind of straight answer out of the head of the city.

They were not alone in the room; one of Ori’s attendants was standing by the door, as was her Agent Neil. The remainder of her security detail was stationed outside in the hallway.

 

Suddenly, there was a deafening bang, and the door burst apart. The shock wave sent both Karen and Ori on the ground and the fire alarm went off. Agent Neil had drawn his weapon and directed it at the door where there was a brief movement. A second later, Karen saw some kind of grenade land in the middle of the room from where she was lying hidden behind the coffee table. Karen braced herself, but luckily, the grenade only let out some kind of cloud. Tear gas.

 

Blinking rapidly to clear her eyes, Karen crawled over to Duke Ori who was cowering terrified behind the sofa. Agent Neil threw her a quick glance and motioned for her to stay down.

 

“We got to be ready to make a run out of here, come on,” Karen urged Ori. She reached for the .380 in her bag, but then swore and remembered that she had to leave it behind during the security check when she entered the town hall. It had been entirely ridiculous and merely a show of power by the Mayor, given that Agent Neil and his team had been allowed to keep their weapons.

 

Suddenly, there were two muffled shots, and both Ori’s attendant and Agent Neil dropped to the floor. The silhouette of a man became visible through the fog by the door, and as he came nearer, Karen recognized Billy Russo in full military gear.  

 

Russo strode towards them with purposeful steps and aimed his gun at Ori, who began to whimper. Karen raised her hands and slid in front of him on her knees.

 

“Please don’t shoot him, please. I know you’re here for me,” she pleaded, her voice slightly high-pitched. So Frank had been right in his worry that Russo might go after her.

 

Russo turned his cold eyes towards her, and a shiver ran down Karen’s spine as he continued to train the gun on Ori just over her shoulder. Panic rose inside her, and she desperately thought of something, _anything_ that she could do, when Russo calmly pulled the trigger.

 

Karen flinched, but in the same moment, something large, black, and heavy cut through the air in front of her, stopping the bullet short. There was a crash when the obstacle landed on the floor, and when it came to a still, Karen was horrified to see that it was Frank.

 

 

Time seemed to slow down as Karen took him in on the floor in front of her. He was wearing a black pullover, a bullet-proof vest, and black cargo pants. She frantically searched his body with her eyes, but luckily couldn’t find a bullet wound and sighed. It seemed that Billy had missed.

 

The sound of Frank’s voice brought Karen back from her trance. “Run, Karen, get out of here, now,” he yelled as he aimed a gun on Russo.

 

While Ori immediately scrambled away, it took Karen two seconds to get herself to move. Every fiber of her being protested at leaving Frank with this maniac but she also knew that she was only a liability in this scenario where Frank and Russo were evenly matched.

 

On the way out, Karen quickly grabbed her handbag. Agent Neil’s gun was still lying next to his body on the floor and Karen stuffed it quickly into the bag and put its long strap across her body. She was almost out of the door when someone roughly grabbed her arm and yanked her back. Less than a second later, she found herself pressed against the front of Russo’s body with something cold against her temple.

Frank stood facing them, gun at the ready, eyes blood-shot from the tear gas. Blood was running down the right side of his head, and Karen realized with a shock that the bullet had not missed after all, but that it had grazed Frank just above his ear. Only a few centimeters further to the side and he’d have been dead.

 

“Let her go,” Frank rasped. “’m here all by myself. Her security detail’s dead. Let her go. Jus’ you and me, yeah?”

 

Karen felt Russo shake his head.

 

“Nah. I’m gonna take her with me, and you’re not gonna follow me. I’m gonna make sure that she’s some place where you can’t find her, so that if I see any of your people there, she dies. If you try to find me, she dies. If you try to find her, she dies. And then we’re gonna meet again and finish this, just the two of us. Got that?” Russo said icily and pulled his arm around Karen’s throat even closer.

 

Frank lowered his weapon and nodded.

 

Karen swallowed and then stumbled backwards as Russo pulled her with him outside of the suite and into a waiting elevator.

Frank followed them with some distance, his eyes firmly trained on Karen. Even though his face was motionless, Karen could see the anger, frustration, and fear in his eyes. She tried to calm him with an encouraging look, and just before the elevator doors closed, Frank’s gaze burned into her with determination.

 

“I’m gonna come for you,” he stated calmly. It sounded like a promise, and Karen nodded imperceptibly. She knew that he would.


	22. Chapter 22

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Frank raced towards the door of the staircase and nearly jumped down on to the next landing. When he was almost half-way down, he ran into Madani, Tower, and a bunch of their respective agents.

 

“What you doing here? Stay exactly where you are! Don’t move, yeah? Tell all your people to stand down, wherever they are, right now. Russo’s got Karen and if he sees any of you he’s gonna kill her,” he yelled furiously. He couldn’t believe that Karen could end up dead just because his goddamn zealous bodyguards wanted to play hero.

“But we got to protect you!” Madani shot back. “Let us handle this, alright? You got to stay safe!”

“No, you stay where you are, got it? That’s an order. Tell all of your team to _stand down_ ,” Frank repeated as he sprinted further down.

 

Finally, he broke through the ground floor door of the stairwell and found himself faced with a group of police officers who had their guns aimed at a door that looked like it lead to a kitchen.

“Russo’s in there, your Majesty. He’s got a hostage,” one of them told him, clearly wary at Frank’s wild gaze.

“Get out, now,” Frank just replied. He put his gun in the back of his pants and purposefully strode towards the double doors despite the protests of the officers.

 

“Russo!” he shouted as he walked through the doors. “I’m unarmed! I’m unarmed. Let her go.”

Russo was still holding Karen close to him, his gun to her head. The two of them were standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by tables and stoves. Behind them was a large walk-in freezer with its door open.  

 

“I didn’t know they were coming, I swear,” Frank continued. “Let her go. Please.”

A grin spread across Russo’s face.

“I gotta say, I like hearing you beg. But no,” he said sardonically.

 

Frank’s eyes flittered to Karen and he admired how calm she was through all of this. While he could see that she was scared, her face remained impassive, and she fixed him with an almost comforting stare.

 

“See, this is why we needed to take you out. You get attached. You get weak, you’re predictable. Just like with your family picnic. Everyone knew when it was happening. You never shut up about your stupid traditions. Schoonover and Rawlins were furious when they found out that you weren’t in the car. But I kept thinking – you know, this might just kill him anyway. It certainly looked like it. You were a dead man walking those first few weeks. I was sure you were done with everything and just wanted to go the same way your family did,” Billy taunted him.

 

Frank set his jaw. Russo wasn’t far off, as always. There had been times when he’d thought about ending it all, those dark hours when he wondered what the point of staying in this world was when his whole family was gone.

He barely noticed how Karen’s expression turned pained at what she was hearing.

 

Frank fixed Russo with a direct, open look.

“Did you do it, Bill?” he almost whispered, finally asking that question that had haunted him since he’d recognized Billy to be the shooter trying to take him down. “Did you rig the car that killed my wife? My son? My baby girl?”

Deep down, he already knew the answer, but he needed to hear it out loud, from _him_.

 

For a second, Billy almost looked guilty. He stared at Frank for a moment, and then finally said “No. No, I wasn’t there for the operation. If I’d been, you’d be in the ground ‘cos I’d have made sure you were in the car. But I told them I’d have no part in it.”

Frank’s head started spinning and he swallowed.

 

“But you knew about it, didn’t you? Did you know about it, Bill?” he almost whispered.

Billy nodded ever so slightly.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I knew.”

Even though he’d expected Billy to say so, the admission hit Frank like a ton of bricks. Tears shot to his eyes, and he closed them briefly as a lone drop rolled down along his nose. Then he pressed his lips together and looked away briefly.

 

“She loved you,” he said accusingly.

“Look, it wasn’t supposed to go down like this, alright?” Billy said matter-of-factly.

“My kids loved you,” Frank threw in.

“If I could go back and change it, I would. But I can’t,” Billy continued calmly.

Frank tensed his shoulders uneasily and his eyes darted all over the room.

“Look at me, Frank,” Billy added. When Frank didn’t listen, he repeated his words with quiet intensity. “Look at me, Frank.”

Frank finally fixed him with a defiant gaze.

“I did not want this,” Billy stated evenly.

“Yeah?” Frank asked, his voice breaking. “What did you want? They loved you. I loved you. You were my _brother_. You were family.”

 

This time, Billy at least had the decency to look ashamed, but soon, his expression became indignant and he scoffed.

“No. I never had a family,” he said scathingly. “ _You_ were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. The whole fucking country cared every time you so much as farted. Lieberman and Curtis – all the same. Nobility.” His face contorted at the last word, and he made it sound almost venomous. “ _I_ grew up in the goddamn foster system and had to fight for everything. Nothing I ever got was for free. The only way to get anywhere was by risking my life to kill some assholes in some foreign country so your family could continue living off the people of this fucking nation. I just wanted it to be my turn for once. But no, you had to screw me over again.”

 

Frank narrowed his eyes.

“I’m gonna kill you,“ he said as white hot rage boiled in his veins.

Billy’s face grew hard.

“No, no you’re not,” he stated coldly.

Frank let out a scornful scoff.

 

“It was always the clothes and cars and women with you,” he said as he felt the bile rise in his throat. “It’s the only thing that ever mattered.”

“It’s what those things represent, Frank,” Billy replied haughtily.

“What’s that?” Frank said with a disdainful look

“How far I’ve come,” Billy said, his voice distant. “It’s about who I see when I look in the mirror. I know who you see. You see a man who lost. Lost his family, lost his faith. About to lose his girlfriend. And then his life.” He straightened a bit. “That ain’t never gonna be me.”

 

“No.” Frank shook his head in disbelief. “You’re wrong Bill. You already lost. You lost your honor. The second you decided to work with Rawlins you became everything you hate.”

Billy rolled his eyes.

“We’ve both been in standoffs like this. We both know that –“

 

His reply was suddenly interrupted by a shot. For a second, Frank was in horror, thinking that Russo had shot Karen because her body seemed to slump, but then Billy swore loudly, his arm holding the gun went flying to the side, and Karen was suddenly in front of Frank.   
Frank wasted no time pushing her behind him, and when his eyes found Billy again, he saw that his foot was bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound. It seemed that Karen had made use of the exchange between him and Billy to reach for the gun she was always carrying in her purse. She had shot Billy in the foot and then freed herself when his entire attention was on the sudden wound.

“Atta girl,” Frank murmured as he reached behind him to keep her exactly in his shadow and out of any line of fire from Billy.

 

Russo looked absolutely furious and reached for something at his belt. A grenade. Frank unconsciously took a step back and pushed Karen further away behind him.

 

“Sorry, Frank, but it looks like we gotta end this now then,” Billy said almost triumphantly. “That’s a shame.”

 

Frank tensed, and when Billy pulled the pin, he sprung forward with a shout before Billy could swing his arm and pushed Billy into the walk-in freezer directly behind him. Then he quickly closed and locked the door, spun on his heels, and raced towards Karen to move her as far away from the freezer as possible.

He’d barely reached her when there was a deafening bang, and the room around them seemed to explode into a thousand pieces. Both he and Karen were thrown on the floor by a shock-wave, and immediately, Frank’s ears started ringing. For a few seconds, he was stunned, but his eyes immediately searched for Karen, hoping fervently that she was ok.

 

He felt her hand on his biceps, and slowly lifted his head towards her. He wanted to ask her if she was hurt, but couldn’t get his voice to work, so he reached out and cupped her face with his hand. Karen seemed dazed but there was no pain in her expression. With a groan, Frank rolled himself on to his stomach and pushed himself off the floor. He steadied himself against a nearby table and offered Karen a hand to pull her up.

 

Finally, they were both standing in front of each other. Frank’s eyes darted to two cuts on the left side of Karen’s forehead and one on her cheek, but Karen in turn seemed occupied with something on Frank’s arm. She bit her lip with a pained expression and tentatively lifted her hand towards it. Frank followed her gaze. A jagged piece of metal was sticking out the back of his upper arm, but Frank hardly felt it, which he assumed was from all the adrenaline he could feel pumping through his veins.

 

Then Karen’s eyes met his again, and all tension fell off him. He was immensely relieved that Karen had survived, and now felt utterly exhausted. His mind seemed blank, and all he wanted to do was just to hold Karen tight and to not let her go again. His gaze brushed over her lips, and for a second, he entertained the thought of pressing a kiss to them, but then he just dropped his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. Peace washed over him, and he just wanted to stay in this moment forever.

 

A few seconds later, however, there was a noise outside of the kitchen doors. Karen was the first one to react and slowly took a step back. Frank had to control himself to not whine at the loss of contact. He suddenly felt cold without it.

 

Madani and Tower burst through the door, guns at the ready, followed by several agents and police officers. When they saw the scene in front of them, they immediately holstered their weapons. Tower radioed for an ambulance and Madani walked up to them. Frank could see from the corner of his eye that she was asking him questions, but he just couldn’t tear his attention away from Karen. He felt as if she was his anchor, and if he’d let go of her, he’d be adrift in the chaos of his mind.


	23. Chapter 23

Karen let her head drop into her hands as she was perched on a plastic seat next to Frank’s hospital room. Thanks to him, her injuries only consisted of three cuts on one side of her face, and a few bruises. The cuts weren’t even very deep, and had already been fixed with butterfly bandages.

 

Agent Santiago and her team were waiting for her outside of the room she’d been treated in, and as soon as Karen had seen them, she broke out in a string of apologies. She felt incredibly guilty that others had died because of her. Now that her adrenaline rush had died down an immense shock had spread through her as she processed what had happened. It felt as if she’d been merely functioning before, intent on surviving, but now, that it was all over, her feelings suddenly crashed in on her.

 

Needless to say, both Agent Santiago and her team were shocked and upset as well. However, after Karen’s tenth apology, Agent Santiago had put a hand on Karen’s arm and given her a squeeze.

“Please don’t feel guilty over this. We know the dangers of the careers we chose. It doesn’t make the deaths of Agent Neil and his team any easier. But you didn’t kill them. Russo did,” she said firmly. “You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

 

Karen had nodded and had let herself be lead into the room she was now sitting in, to rest and wait for Frank’s medical check to end. Agent Santiago’s words sounded hollow in her ears, however, and didn’t do anything to alleviate Karen’s guilt. Russo taking her hostage, the death of her security detail, and Frank risking his life to save her were only the last straw after several incredibly upsetting days that left her reeling mentally.

 

Pain shot through her at the thought of Frank’s bullet wound and that horrid piece of metal in his arm, on top of a myriad of cuts and bruises that she’d noticed when they’d had their short moment of peace after the explosion earlier. He’d barely recovered from his torture, and she couldn’t believe that he’d gotten hurt again so quickly just to save her. At the same time, this was exactly the kind of thing he did – protecting others, and putting their well-being above his own. One of the reasons why she’d fallen in love with him. Luckily, this time, he needed no surgery, just a lot of stitches and bandages, from what she’d overheard from the medical staff when they talked to Madani.

 

She had absolutely no idea what to do about those feelings she had for Frank, even after days and days of thinking about it. For one, he was clearly still shaken by the death of his family, and she didn’t even know if someone, if _he_ , would ever be able to recover from that.

 

And then secondly, he was the King, while she was what they called a commoner. In the entire history of the kingdom, all Kings, Queens, Princes, and Princesses had been with someone else of noble blood. Even the late queen Maria had been a Countess. There were a lot of critics of this focus on nobility and a lot of progress had been made for commoners in the last fifty years or so, but at the end of the day, one’s family line mattered, a lot. It wasn’t a coincidence that the entire royal administration was full of Ladies, Lords, Barons, Dukes, Viscounts and what-nots. Karen herself had written disapprovingly on this topic, too, and as a matter of fact, the creation of the National Council was one way in which Frank had given commoners a greater voice in politics. But still. At best, commoners were friends, lovers, and mistresses, but not girl- or boyfriends, and definitely not spouses.

 

As much as she loved Frank, she could never just be his lover. She had too much self-respect for that. But at the same time, the thought of not seeing Frank regularly from now on was almost impossible as well. She was truly head over heels for him, with an intensity that she’d never really felt before for anyone. Speaking to him or seeing him were the highlights of her day. There was something natural about the two of them, like some kind of magnetism, and working against the two of them felt completely wrong.

 

And then there was her past. Her life had not been smooth so far. Her father had died when she’d been very young, and her stepfather Jeff, that her mother later married, had been a drunkard who’d beat the shit out of her younger brother Kevin and Karen herself.

When she’d been eighteen, her brother had died of the consequences of one of those beatings. Officially, his death was ruled an accident after some bribing by Jeff – they lived in a remote corner of the country where corruption was still rife. A few weeks later, when Jeff was once again going at Karen, clearly not having learnt anything from Kevin’s death, Karen had enough. She got out her father’s old pistol and shot Jeff. He survived, Karen was arrested and put on trial, but thankfully, this time, the system worked and the evidence was plenty. The court confirmed that Karen had acted in self-defense and let her go. Her mother still stayed with Jeff, and was now caring for him as he was in need of medical assistance for the rest of his life due to the gravity of his injuries.

 

But there was even more. Two years ago, Karen had killed a man. His name was Wesley, and he was the right hand of the crime boss that Karen had been investigating back then. Wesley had kidnapped her to pressure her into stopping her coverage of his boss, but had been careless enough to leave a gun in her reach. Karen immediately used it to shoot Wesley – not once, not twice, but a whole of six times. At the time, the police were deep in the pockets of said crime boss, so Karen had known from the moment she woke up drugged in an abandoned warehouse that she couldn’t go to them. Still, to this day, she was wondering what kind of a person she had to be to empty the entire gun on Wesley, rather than to just shoot him once or twice. She’d been scared out of her wits, yes, but to shoot Wesley six times… just what did that say about her?

 

She’d never told anyone about Wesley, not even Trish or Ellison, but she knew her own colleagues in the media. If they had their minds set on uncovering information on someone, they’d find it all. All those horrible years living with her stepfather, discussed in detail with experts and psychologists to assess if the abuse had made her crazy, if it made her a danger to the King, or a pitiful victim in need of rescue. They’d somehow find a source somewhere who knew about Wesley, and they’d uncover everything she’d done, drag it all out in the open, comment on it in opinion pieces, yell about it on TV, and get law enforcement to look into her.

 

She’d seen it done countless times before, and deep down, she’d always wondered when someone would start do dig into her past. She was investigating so many people and had raised her public profile so much further when she’d given that address on TV, but so far, no-one had turned their attention to her. The only person who had ever done so was her old, and now deceased, mentor Ben Ulrich, who’d shared what he found – only on Karen’s family history, anyway - with Ellison. But luckily, both of them had agreed to leave the past be and to help Karen build a better future instead. Ohers in her profession would never be so kind, Karen knew as much. They’d make sure she would be finished. Ellison wouldn’t be able to keep a murderer working for the Bulletin, Frank would probably hate her, and to top it all off, she’d very likely go to prison.

 

So all in all, it was much better for her to keep her distance. It seemed that she was a magnet for death and violence, and Frank had clearly had enough of that in his life.

 

 

 

When Karen later entered Frank’s hospital room, she felt a sense of dejà-vu as she saw him standing there in his green scrubs. She kept moving until she was standing directly in front of him, not really sure what she was supposed to say.

Without a single word, Frank raised his hand and carefully ran his thumb across the cuts on Karen’s forehead with an unreadable expression. Karen, on the other hand, focused on the bandage that was covering the spot where Billy’s bullet had grazed Frank and gently touched it with her finger tips, slightly shuddering at how close Billy had come to killing Frank.

 

Looking back, she couldn’t say who’d moved first. What she did know was that when she felt Frank’s lips against hers, she thought she might burst from all the different things she was feeling. First and foremost, there was pure happiness and love that seemed to consume her, and that made her feel like everything in that moment was just right and perfect the way it was. Then there was some nervous giddiness when she realized that Frank seemed to return her feelings. And then, somewhere deep down, there was all that anxiety and fear about her past, her status, and the death and destruction that seemed to follow her wherever she went.  

 

When Frank groaned lightly and hugged her even closer, Karen pulled back with great effort.

 

“I’m so sorry, but I can’t do this,” she said breathlessly, eyes wide. She could feel her emotions bubbling up from deep down in her stomach, gradually rising higher, and threatening to push tears into her eyes, so she blinked rapidly to keep them at bay.

 

For a brief moment, Frank looked hurt, and the knowledge that it was because of her felt like a punch to the gut to Karen. Not a second later, however, he narrowed his eyes questioningly. She hadn’t pulled away fully, so his hand was still cupping Karen’ chin, and she felt him run his thumb over her cheekbone. She barely stopped herself from leaning into this touch.

“Why not?” Frank asked calmly. His gaze was unguarded and earnest.

 

Karen tried to sort through the chaos of the thoughts and feelings in her mind to find the right words but failed.

 

“It’s just… I can’t,” she finally said. “You’re the most wonderful person I know, but – I’m wrong for you. I can’t give you what you deserve.” She briefly closed her eyes and opened them again. “And I just can’t handle all of … this.” She gestured vaguely around them as she pulled further away from him.

 

Frank set his jaw but didn’t say anything.

 

“I’m sorry,” Karen whispered and then slipped out of the door while Frank just watched her motionlessly.


	24. Chapter 24

Trish all but sprung at Karen as soon as she stepped through the door.

 

“Karen, oh my God, I was so worried when I heard about what happened!” she breathed as she hugged her friend tightly while Agent Santiago was doing her usual security sweep.

Karen had been close to refusing any further security detail now that Russo was no longer a problem, but then Santiago had informed her that due to the incident at the town hall, the crowd of people in front of her apartment building had grown again, and so she’d grudgingly decided to continue with them for now.

 

Karen stood rigid in Trish’s arms and barely noticed that Santiago left through the front door. All those emotions, thoughts, and feelings she’d been keeping in check suddenly seemed to explode, and when Trish took a step back, placed her hands on Karen’s shoulders and earnestly asked her if she was okay, Karen suddenly couldn’t stop her tears anymore and burst out into a loud sob.

 

“Oh my God, Karen, what happened? Did that Russo-guy hurt you?” Trish eyes flittered over Karen’s body and briefly slowed down at the cuts on Karen’s head.

 

Karen just shook her head and buried her hands in her face. A small voice inside her head was telling her off for being so ridiculous to let herself go like this, but she simply had no energy to control herself anymore.

 

She felt Trish pull her towards the sofa, help her out of her coat, and wrap a blanket around her. A second later, several tissues were bunched into her hands, and Karen slowly used to blow her nose and wipe some of the tears off her face. Her make-up probably looked like hell, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She felt utterly exhausted, like someone had emptied her mind.

 

Trish was filling a glass of water by the kitchen counter.

 

“I’m … I’m sorry. I’m being ridiculous, b-but I just can’t stop,” Karen blubbered breathlessly.

 

Trish frowned and sat down next to her, handing Karen the glass.

 

“Don’t say that. Whatever it is, clearly, you need to let it out,” she chided worriedly and gently rubbed Karen’s back. “You’ve had the month from hell, you were bound to crack at some point. It’s just human.”

 

Karen downed a few large sips of water and felt its coolness spread throughout her body, calming her somewhat. Her sobs subsided a little, but her tears kept flowing.

 

“Wanna talk about it?” Trish asked gently, still drawing circles on Karen’s back.

 

Karen shrugged weakly. “I don’t even know where to start,” she sighed. “Agent Neil and his team died. Russo killed them when he came after me in the town hall. And then he was about to shoot Duke Ori and me when Frank took the bullet. It grazed his head. He could have died, too.” A fresh round of tears threatened to spill. “And then Russo took me hostage and Frank came after me. Russo wanted to blow all of us up, but Frank managed to push him into a walk-in freezer so just Russo died.”

 

Karen could see Trish having a difficult time to follow her words, and she was mentally berating herself for telling everything like a three-year-old. She was a journalist, for crying out loud. But somehow, in her current state, she just couldn’t sort her thoughts enough to form any better sentences.

 

“And then Frank and I kissed but I told him I couldn’t do this and left,” Karen finished. At her last sentence, something painfully raw seemed to explode inside of her, and she closed her eyes, so she heard rather than saw Trish’s surprised intake of breath.

 

“What? You kissed the King?” Trish asked.

 

Karen nodded and opened her eyes again. “Or mabye he kissed me. Don’t remember who started it.”

 

“Okay,” Trish said measuredly. “But you don’t like him?”

 

“No, I’m in love with him,” Karen replied, and while she realized how stupid she must sound to Trish, it suddenly felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

 

Trish blinked a few times, and Karen had to give her credit for trying so hard to make sense of her babbling. It was probably due to Trish’s job talking to countless of people on her radio show each day.

 

“So why did you walk out on him?” Trish asked with the patience of an angel.

 

Karen dropped back against the sofa and took another sip.

 

“Because it’s true. I can’t do this. I’m –“ she stopped, unsure how to continue.

 

“What? A commoner? Somehow I got a feeling that won’t bother this King too much,” Trish replied bemusedly.

 

“Yes, that. And just – just look at me, my life. The media will have a field day. They’re going to look into everything I’ve ever done,” Karen said weakly. She couldn’t bring herself to add “and then Frank will find out what I’ve done.”

 

Trish’s expression became compassionate.

 

“You mean what happened with your step-dad? But you were acquitted,” she offered. Trish was one of the very few people who Karen had told about the incident at her own volition.

 

“Yeah, Jeff, but also – Kevin. It’s going to be everywhere. And then they’re going to try to ask my mum about me and find out that I haven’t talked to her since the trial and then it’s going to get even worse and –“ Karen pushed a hand into her hair and worried at her bottom lip.

 

“Or maybe they won’t even care,” Trish countered.

 

Karen threw her a sarcastic look.

“Trish, we both work in the media. We know how this works. I’d be first commoner associated with the King. I already have a public profile because of my little speech on TV during the putsch. Even if some of the bigger papers and stations hold back, the gossip ones are definitely going to do their part. Do you remember when Frank married Maria after just six months of dating, and her being visibly pregnant already? They even found out about that one time she smoked a joint in her life in summer camp!”

 

“Yeah, because there wasn’t much else to report on! She was clean cut and from an influential family with a perfect education. There wasn’t anything to criticize,” Trish replied.

 

“Which is going to make the comparison with me even worse,” Karen shot back. Especially when the opinion she was worried about most was Frank’s.

 

Then her face grew soft and she reached for Trish’s hand.

 

“I’m sorry, but this is all just too much. I couldn’t stand them digging into my past when I tried so hard to leave it behind me.”  

 


	25. Chapter 25

Curtis slowly followed the attendant through the grand hallways of the palace. Even though his chest wound was healing nicely, he still couldn’t exert himself too much, and he refused to use a wheel chair. Luckily, the palace’s staff were trained to perfection, and so the attendant had slowed his pace to one that Curtis could easily follow.

 

“I thought you said the King would receive me in his private suite. Why are we going to the East Wing? His suite is in the West Wing,” Curtis questioned as he looked around him in confusion.

 

“A few days ago his Majesty decided that he would like to change the setup of the suites. He has moved his own suite to the East Wing. The guest chambers that were originally located there were moved to the West Wing instead,” the attendant supplied courteously.

 

Curtis frowned.

 

“And what’s going to happen to the suite that the King shared with Queen Maria? And his children’s chambers?” he asked with concern in his voice.

 

“All of them are going to be converted into guest chambers,” the attendant replied.

Before Curtis could ask another question they suddenly heard the King’s loud voice rumble through the halls. It was too muffled to be understood, but from the tone, Curtis could tell Frank was _very_ upset. For as long as Curtis had known him, he’d never once heard Frank shout in this manner. Whenever Frank would get angry, he’d get quieter. Sometimes, in discussions, he’d passionately raise his voice, but never close to the intensity of what he was hearing now.

 

Curtis threw a sideward glance at the attendant whose face still remained impassive, even as the King’s shouts could be heard completely now that they were outside the door of the King’s new suite.

 

_“- unacceptable, that’s what this is. You got one job right now, yeah? Find out whoever leaked those pictures and arrest ‘em, and get ‘em here. You got that?”_

 

Curtis felt bad eavesdropping, but then, if Frank was shouting at this volume, he wondered if that was even a valid concept in this case.

 

There was a brief pause, and then Frank continued, just as loud as before.

 

_“Plenty of reasons! Invasion of privacy. Perverting the course of justice! What you waiting for?”_

 

A short moment later, the door opened, and a visibly shaken Lady Madani, Lord Mahoney, and Lord Sanderson walked out.

 

Curtis waited until the attendant had announced him to Frank, and then stepped through the door as well while the attendant retreated in turn.

 

The room in front of him was unfamiliar and looked a bit chaotic. In terms of layout, it was an exact mirror image of Frank and Maria’s former suite in the West Wing, but the interior was much more outdated.  A row of floor length windows covered one of the walls, a door in the far end seemed to lead to the bedroom, and several small bookshelves were lining the remaining walls. In the middle of the saloon was an arrangement of arm chairs and sofas that Frank was pacing in front of, and by one of the windows, there was a small writing table at which David was sitting with his laptop and headphones around his neck. Max was dozing in a basket in front of one of the windows and seemed entirely unfazed by the mood of his master.

 

David nodded briefly at Curtis and then returned his attention to the laptop. Frank looked up with a dark expression but shook Curtis’ hand when he approached. Curtis’ eyes flittered across the bandages on Frank’s head and body, but didn’t say anything. He knew Frank would just wave any questions on them off.

 

“What’s going on Frank? Could hear you all the way down to the blue saloon,” Curtis said as he settled on one of the sofas and raised his eyebrow. As soon as he sat down, Max got up, jumped out of his basket and made his way over to him to beg for some petting. Curtis proceeded to stroke Max’ fur but kept his eyes on Frank.

 

“Someone’s published compromising pictures of him and his girlfriend, and then some source in the palace leaked that Frank’s building her a whole rose garden instead of just giving her a bouquet,” David interjected with that even, yet mocking, voice that Curtis knew so well.

 

Frank grunted and shouted “Lieberman!”, and Curtis now raised both of his eyebrows and looked at him.

 

“What compromising pictures?” he asked, not sure what to make of David’s words.

“They’re not compromising,” Frank interjected, his voice a bit quieter. “Jus’… showing a personal moment.”

 

David gestured towards a TV on the wall with his head, and a second later, a grainy picture appeared that looked like it had been taken by a CCTV camera. It showed Frank and Karen Page standing closely together, foreheads touching, and seemingly lost in the moment. While Karen looked more or less unharmed, Frank looked very much worse for wear, with blood running down one side of his face, some piece of metal buried in one of his upper arms, and several ugly-looking cuts and bruises. Karen’s face was turned away from the camera, but Frank’s could be clearly seen, and Curtis almost startled at the vulnerable, unguardedly loving expression Frank was sporting.

 

He looked back towards Frank who stood rigidly, staring at the picture with an unfathomable expression.

 

“Yeah, I get what you mean,” Curtis said truthfully. Given how private Frank was as a person, it must have been twice as bad to have his feelings broadcast like this.

 

“And you’re building her a garden?” Curtis followed up carefully. He didn’t really know much about this Karen Page other than that she was the one who’d uncovered the plot against Frank, her admittedly very moving TV speech to save the two of them in Gunner’s lodge, and that she was working for the Bulletin. He’d been trying to get Frank to introduce him to her to be able to thank her for saving his life, too, but Frank had been a master of evasion on that.

 

Frank just grunted in response, and Curtis knew that this was a dead-end.

 

“But she’s ok after the attack this afternoon, right? It said on the news that she was,” he tried instead.

 

Frank nodded but didn’t tear his gaze from the picture, so Curtis looked back at David.

 

“She’s ok ‘cos Frank took a bullet for her. Literally. Hence the wrap on his head,” Lieberman supplied helpfully as ever.

 

Curtis’ eyes shot back at Frank in surprise and his hands on Max paused. “So this is serious, then?” he asked. Suddenly, he thought he might have found the reason for Frank’s sudden wish to move out of the part of the palace that he’d inhabited with his family (something Curtis had already recommended several times before, albeit fruitlessly, to help him cope with their deaths).

 

“Yes,” David said at the same time that Frank said “no.”

 

“No,” Frank repeated firmly.

 

Curtis sighed inwardly. In these kind of matters, talking to Frank could be like pulling teeth, so he just stayed quiet for a few seconds and continued his ministrations on Max again. With success.

 

“She doesn’t want me,” Frank added quietly, his gaze finally wandering out of the window where it was quickly getting dark. 

 

Curtis felt bad for him. He hardly knew a more kind-hearted, committed man, and he really wished him another shot at love after all that happened.

 

“Did she tell you that?” he asked curiously.

 

“Yes,” Frank said.

“No,” David said simultaneously.

“Stop it, asshole!” Frank shouted angrily.

 

“You’re telling it all wrong,” David said defensively. “She did not say she didn’t _want_ you. She said she _couldn’t do_ _this_. That’s what you told me. And there’s a difference.”

 

Curtis agreed with David on that, but found it wiser to keep that to himself for now.

 

“And what’s ‘ _this’_?” he asked instead.

 

“The million-dollar question,” Lieberman said with a fake grin.

 

Frank dropped into an arm chair and ran his hands through the hair that was not covered by the bandage.

 

“Ok, seriously though. I’ve been telling him for hours now. Karen wants him. I’ve seen how antsy she was on the day of the putsch and after. Apparently held his hand the entire flight to the hospital, wouldn’t move from his side when he was in surgery, or when he was recovering. I had to physically drag her from his side to get her to rest. And as soon as she was up again, she was back in his room. And – just look at that picture, man.” Lieberman pointed to the TV with his hand. “Even Madani and Tower asked me if something was going on between the two of them, pretty much right after I got to the hospital last week. That girl really, really likes you, Frank.”

 

Curtis slightly tilted his head to his side.

“Gotta say, if that’s all true then Lieberman’s got a point,” he said warily as he gave Max a final pet and sat up straight.  

 

Frank huffed.

“Yeah, but then she ran after we kissed,” he said curtly.

 

“Maybe you had bad breath,” Lieberman chuckled but immediately backpedaled when Curtis threw him a dark glance. “Sorry, sorry.”

 

“Maybe she’s worried because she’s a commoner?” Curtis suggested as he wracked his brain for possible explanations.

 

A slight frown grazed Frank’s forehead.

“I don’t care ‘bout that,” he said gruffly. “’n me kissin’ her would make that very clear, right?”

 

Curtis slowly waggled his head.

 

“But we never had a commoner with a King before. Even if it’s getting better there’s still a lot of prejudice. Lots of people wouldn’t be happy to see such a combination. And from her perspective – so far, commoner’s have only ever been mistresses. Never actual girlfriends or wives, right?” he explained patiently.

 

At that, Frank shot him an outraged look.

 

“She’d never be just a – a mistress for me,” he said indignantly, as if the mere thought was an offense. “She’d – this would be the real deal. Serious.”

 

“Yeah, we get that, but does she?” Lieberman asked.

 

Frank’s eyes darted around the room as they always did when he was thinking about something.

 

“If you’re asking me, what all of this is telling us is that you need to talk to her. As soon as possible. If that picture is already in the media, everyone else is already talking about you, anyway,” Curtis concluded.


	26. Chapter 26

Karen was woken by a soft knock on her bedroom door. She squinted and looked at the glow-in-the-dark display of her alarm clock. It was just past 8 pm, barely two hours since she’d lied down, after her crying episode had left her ready to collapse on her bed.

“Karen,” she heard Trish’s low voice.

“Yeah?” Karen replied and turned on the light on her bedside lamp.

Trish peeked through the door.

“I’m sorry to wake you, but I thought you probably want to see this right away,” she said as she stepped fully into Karen’s room.

 

Karen sat up with a sense of dread. God, what now?

Trish had her tablet with her and settled next to Karen on the bed.

“There’s a picture going around that’s showing you and the King,” she said carefully. Karen’s stomach plummeted. No-one could have taken a picture of them kissing, could they?

 

When Trish turned the tablet around, Karen was relieved to find that it wasn’t their kiss, but the moment they’d shared after the explosion. Still, it felt like a stab in the gut that suddenly millions of people were witness to the intimacy of a moment that somehow felt even more private than a kiss because no-one else even knew all that she and Frank had gone through together. How far they’d gone for each other. 

 

Karen bit her lip and looked away as Trish watched her carefully.

 

“Um, there’s some more. Apparently someone from the palace told the Daily Royal Mail that the King’s building a rose garden for you as a token of his love?” Trish added quietly. “Is that true?”

 

Karen breathed out through her nose and pinched the bridge of her nose.

 

“It’s just a thank-you for helping him find out the truth about his family and survive the putsch,” she said dismissively.

 

Trish raised her eyebrows.

 

“Really? A garden of white roses, generally known to symbolize new beginnings and budding courtship?” she asked, half smilingly.

 

Karen frowned. “What?” she asked, and then a bit more softly, she added. “I didn’t know that.”

 

Trish lowered the tablet.

 

“In any case, what all of this means is that the word is out. And that, very likely, people will soon start to look into you. Whether you’re with the King or not doesn’t matter right now. People will start digging.” She paused. “Meaning that you might as well keep kissing the King now. The outcome is going to be the same.”

 

Karen swallowed. It wasn’t just the people she was scared about. It was Frank. If the people decided to hate her, talk about her… that was one thing. But if Frank found out and rejected her, she really didn’t know how to deal with that.

 

“I think you should talk to him,” Trish said after a minute. “The sooner the better. Kare, you got a real shot at something here. I can see how much you like him.”

 

Karen dropped her head into her hands and groaned in frustration. If she was honest with herself, she really wanted to speak to Frank. As terrible as the thought of a rejection was to her, the thought of him finding out about her past from the media was worse. They’d always been honest with each other. As difficult as it was, she’d not stop being truthful now.

 

“Okay,” she finally said and looked up. “I’ll go talk to him. Now.”

 

“Now?” Trish asked, a bit taken aback. “It’s already past 8!” However, when she saw the determined expression on Karen’s face, she got up. “I’ll tell Agent Santiago that you’re heading out.”

 


	27. Chapter 27

 

Frank supposed that he must have been staring at the window for almost an hour now. An attendant had brought in some dinner for him, Curtis, and Lieberman a few minutes ago, but Frank had just told the other two to get started and that he wasn’t hungry. He really didn’t feel like eating. Instead, he continued to try to stop the cycle of questions in his mind about Karen’s reaction today. A few times he’d wondered if he shouldn’t also be thinking about what happened with Russo, but every time his mind wandered back to that, it was inevitably drawn to all those moments that happened between him and Karen throughout.

 

The window in front of him fused his reflection with the outline of the West Wing beyond it. Right in the middle of where his nose was standing out in white against the darkness of the pane was also the center window of the suite he’d shared with Maria.  A few days ago, right after the putsch, it had felt so right to move out of it and into the one in the East Wing.  Like a new life was waiting for him that he finally dared to reach for and hold on to with two hands. But now he didn’t know what to think anymore. Karen’s rejection had blindsided him completely. It wasn’t that it was inconceivable that she wouldn’t return his feeling, but that there had been an inevitability about the two of them that he’d somehow felt but not actually been aware of. Something powerful and just _right_ that didn’t fit to Karen’s reaction at all.

 

Whatever that something was, for a few moments, it had allowed Frank to forget, to look ahead, and to think that maybe, life still had some more plans for him than just trying his best to rule.

 

But now, he could feel that old fear lurking behind him again. That feeling he’d had since he’d been little and had struggled with all those etiquettes and the fancy talk, no matter how many times his tutors and his parents tried to drill them into them. That feeling of not being enough, not being _good_ enough. And since recently, the idea that since the death of his family he might be too broken to be happy again – or to make someone else happy again.

 

Suddenly, he heard Curtis say his name very loudly, like he’d already said it several times before.

 

Frank shook his head and turned to him, just to find his new bodyguard Agent Jessica Jones standing behind Curtis with an annoyed expression. He’d met her just after the putsch when Madani informed him of all the people in the NIA who’d distinguished themselves by fighting the takeover. It was clear that Madani did not like Jones; while Jones was one of the best observers among the NIA agents, she had a very direct manner, a crass mouth, and a huge attitude. Still, thanks to Jones’ observation skills, they had identified a large amount of Rawlins’ and Schoonover’s people within hours, and as it turned out, Jones had also been instrumental in taking down several of them when they put up a fight. Frank decided that he could use someone like her around him after all that happened, and had offered her a spot in his personal guard. At first, Agent Jones had just rolled her eyes and scoffed a lot, but ultimately, she’d accepted.  

 

Now, Agent Jones rolled her eyes again. Agent Tower and a lot of other Palace staff were regularly shocked by her cynical demeanor, but Frank didn’t mind it.

 

“Santiago called. She’s on her way to the Palace with your girlfriend who says she wants to talk to you as soon as possible,” Agent Jones said and crossed her arms. “You wanna see her or shall I tell them to turn around?”

 

Frank did his best to keep his expression neutral. A budding ray of hope appeared in his mind, but he tried his best to keep it in check. He didn’t even know what Karen wanted to talk about. Probably give him hell about the leaks that would now end up pushing her even further into the spotlight when she’d already been so uncomfortable with all the attention on her after the putsch.

 

“Yeah, I’ll see her. Take her here when she gets here,” he ordered with a calm voice.

 

Jones turned around wordlessly and strode back out of the room.

 

 

Curtis and Lieberman were staring at Frank like it was Christmas.

 

“Told ya she likes you!” Lieberman said triumphantly, a piece of sandwich still in his mouth. Curtis just gave him a look that said “see!”

 

“Don’t even know what she wants,” Frank shot back. “Anyway, you two better go.”

 

“Oh, we will!” Lieberman said as he jumped to his feet. Both of them briefly hugged Frank. As he pulled away, Curtis said: “Do me a favor and don’t fuck this up, ok?”

 

Frank didn’t reply and just watched them leave.


	28. Chapter 28

Frank nervously tapped his right index finger on his thigh while he waited on one of the couches. It’d been almost twenty minutes since had Jones announced that Karen was on her way, so she would be arriving any minute now.

 

Finally, there was a knock on the door and Frank all but jumped to his feet and called “come in.”

 

Karen appeared in the doorway without an attendant. It seemed that the Palace staff had realized that the two of them needed some privacy, and Frank was immensely grateful for it.

 

“H-hi,” Karen said a bit timidly. She was smiling weakly and took a few tentative steps into Frank’s direction. Max immediately shot towards her and danced around her legs, his tail wagging. Karen whispered a soft “hello boy!” and gave him a few pats on the back, but then continued her way towards Frank.

 

“Hey.” Frank tried his best to not let it sound gruff.

 

“Thank you for seeing me this late,” Karen added when she arrived at the couches.

 

Frank wanted to tell her that he’d always see her, no matter the time of day, but settled for a dismissive gesture to show her that he didn’t mind.

 

“You wanna, uh, something to drink?” he asked, pointing to the coffee table. He’d had new refreshments brought in – coffee, tea, and a selection of cold drinks.

 

Karen nodded slowly. “Tea, please.”

 

Frank gestured for her to sit on the couch next to him and busied himself with filling her a cup. Karen seemed to hesitate for a second, but then followed his invitation, angling herself on the sofa in such a way that she was facing him with one leg bent on the cushion. Somehow it relieved Frank that she was willing to sit right next to him even after what happened earlier. Max waddled over to them and dropped on to the floor at Karen’s feet. 

 

When Frank handed her the cup and sat back down he noticed how tired she looked. Even though she was wearing some simple make-up, there were light shadows under her eyes, and her usually fresh skin was pale.

 

There was a moment of silence, and just as it looked like Karen was about to say something, Frank couldn’t stop himself from blurting out “I didn’t know someone gave that picture of us to the press. Didn’t know about them leaking the stuff ‘bout the garden, either.”

 

Karen blinked in surprise and then frowned.

 

“Of course you didn’t know, Frank. I never thought that. I know you better than that,” she stated earnestly, as if the mere thought of Frank tipping off the press about them was ridiculous.  

 

Frank nodded briefly, not quite meeting her gaze, and then the room was dipped into silence again.

 

“I’m sorry about the way I acted this afternoon,” Karen finally said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I shouldn’t have run out like that. You deserved an explanation.” She fixed him with a contrite expression, and Frank just calmly returned her gaze.

 

“What did you mean when you said you can’t do _this_?” he asked quietly, trying his best to let the tone of his voice communicate that Karen could tell him everything, freely, and that he would listen without judgement.  

 

Karen took a deep breath, looked away from him again, and closed her eyes.

 

“I’m scared,” she confessed finally. “For – for so many reasons that I just – I don’t know what to do.”

 

Frank just listened to her quietly.

 

“I’m – I’m in love with you,” Karen said. Frank’s heart did a little jump in his chest at that, but quickly got grounded again when Karen’s fearful eyes flittered back to him.

 

“There are things about me that you don’t know, and I’m worried that you’re going to hate me when you find out about them,” she continued. “Just the thought of that is –“ She broke off.

 

Frank placed his arm on the back of the couch that they were sitting on, not quite reaching her but trying to bridge the distance between them somehow anyway. It really didn’t surprise him that there was more to Karen than what her background check had turned up. He’d had a feeling about it, ever since he’d learnt that she had a .380 in her purse and that being shot at hardly fazed her. She’d always avoided a straight answer when he’d tried to prod her on that a little, but he’d never thought that it was necessary to pry. Her actions that he’d witnessed spoke for her more than enough. Everyone was entitled to their secrets. Even about Frank himself there were things that hardly anyone knew about.

 

Karen took a deep breath.

 

“And on top of that – I know who I am, and who you are. Kings don’t have relationships with commoners. We’re just the lovers. And there are plenty of people that would like to keep it that way,” she continued quietly. Frank just kept listening, eyes steadily trained on her, even as his entire body seemed to protest against what she was saying. “I’ve spent too many years working for a newspaper to know that they’re going to do everything they can to tear me down. And with my past, that won’t take much at all.” She took another deep breath. “That’s why I ran.”

 

Frank caught her uneasy gaze and tried his best to use his facial expression to show her that he’d never, ever judge her – not for her present, nor for her past.

 

“I don’t care ‘bout your family, or a title that you have or don’t have. ‘n I also don’t care what anybody else thinks. If this is the first time a King’s got a girlfriend without a title, then that’s what it is, yeah?” he said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

 

“I won’t let anyone hurt you. If anyone tries to tear you down, I’ll stop ‘em, ok? I mean that,” he added seriously. “I can’t promise you that people won’t try, and a lot of assholes are gonna say some really shitty things. Screw ‘em. Only thing that matters is you and me, yeah?”

 

Karen lowered her eyes and chewed on her lip once more. “But you don’t even know-“ she started, but Frank cut her off.

 

“Then tell me,” he asked. “Please.”

 

Karen still chewed on her lip, looking hesitant, and Frank let his eyes wander the room.

 

“Look, I may not know those stories, Karen, but I know _you_. There’s not a single thing I can think of that’d change the way I look at you,” he urged, meaning every word of it. The only thing that could make him change his mind about Karen was if it turned out that she’d been involved in his family’s death, but given how much she risked in uncovering the conspiracy around that and keeping him safe, that seemed very unlikely. “So, just tell me, yeah?”

 

Karen took a deep breath and avoided his eyes, but nodded.

 

Frank moved his arm down from the back of the couch and rested his hand next to Karen’s thigh, its palm facing upwards.

 

“’m scared, too,” he stated quietly. “Didn’t think I could ever feel this way again about anyone. But I do.” He paused when Karen carefully placed her hand in his. “Karen, you know what I did to Rawlins, and Russo, and what ’m gonna do to Schoonover. You honestly think there’s something I won’t be able to accept ‘bout you?”

 

Karen didn’t say anything, but finally looked at him again and balled her free hand into a wrist.

 

“I’m assuming Reyes or someone did a background check on me when I first started meeting you regularly?” she asked, her voice shaking slightly. Frank nodded.

 

“Yeah. Some parking tickets, complaints at the press council, and the acquittal when you were eighteen,” he offered to help her along.

 

Karen nodded.

 

“I had a brother. His name was Kevin. He was two years younger than me,” she said slowly, and Frank could see how much it pained her to speak about him. Given that used the past tense, he could sense why, so he started to draw circles on the back of her hand with his thumb.

 

“Dad died when I was six. Heart attack,” Karen continued and took a deep breath. “When you told me how you worried about forgetting about your family, I knew exactly what you meant. If I didn’t have a picture of him I don’t think I’d even remember what he looked like. Sometimes I think of … just moments, like him throwing me into the air and catching me again, and I don’t even know if that – if that’s a real memory or if I just want it to be that.”

 

“Mom remarried two years later. I don’t remember much of Dad, but I know that Jeff was … that Dad would never have done what Jeff did. He – he hit us. A lot. Mostly when he was drunk, which felt like it was all the time. For whatever reasons. Being too loud. Being too quiet. Bad grades. Too good grades. Talking back. The weather.” Karen chuckled humorlessly at the last one. “Kevin and I begged our Mom to take us way from him. To protect us. But she – she didn’t. She’d just tell us to behave better so he wouldn’t have a reason to get angry. The fact that she’d just stand there, or even went to another room when Jeff was taking his anger out on us again… that was even worse than the bruises and the cuts and the broken bones. She’d take us to the hospital and tell them we’d fallen down a tree or hit our heads horsing around. No-one suspected anything. To the outside, she looked like a super mom. PTA board, healthy, home-made lunches, volunteer crossing guard… even now everyone’s admiring her for the self-sacrificing way she’s caring for Jeff. No-one’d ever thought that she was the same woman who’d close the kitchen door because our screams of pain were too loud.”

 

Frank clenched his teeth as wild fury raged through him at the thought of Karen and her brother being thrown about by a grown man. Fucking scumbag. What kind of sick coward would do something like that? He focused on Karen and gently squeezed her hand in his, and made a mental note to think of all the ways that Jeff could be made to pay for what he’d done.

 

“When… when Kevin was sixteen, he was starting to get a mouth on him. I think… I think he was just sick of it all. Then, one day, when Jeff was going for me again, Kevin jumped between us and started to hit back.” Karen’s eyes filled with tears, and she used her free hand to wipe them off quickly. “In all those years I’ve never seen Jeff this furious. His eyes… they were so cold. Murderous. He kicked Kevin to the floor, and the two of them wrestled. Even Mom was screaming at Jeff to stop. I think she knew what was going to happen. Suddenly there was this … horrible cracking sound and then Kevin just stopped moving. I ran and called 911 but it was too late. Jeff had broken Kevin’s neck. My little brother was dead.”

 

Karen’s voice broke at the last sentence, and she couldn’t hold her sobs back any longer. Frank’s heart broke as he watched her press her free hand against her mouth, and he quickly grabbed a napkin from the coffee table, interchanged it with his hand in hers, and then scooted closer to her so he could wrap her into his arms. Without a moment’s hesitation, Karen dropped against him and buried her face in his chest.

 

They sat like this for a few minutes until Karen’s sobs died down and she sat up a bit. Frank kept his arms loosely around her, however, as Karen continued the story.

 

“It was murder, plain and simple. But Jeff greased the judge and got Kevin’s death ruled as an accident.” Frank sighed angrily inwardly. While he loved his dad, a lot of shit had gone down under his rule, especially in terms of corruption. Towards the end of his life, his father had put measures in place to reduce bribery, but it was a slow process, and even to this day, Frank had to make sure that any instance of corruption was persecuted relentlessly, which still happened far too often for his liking.

 

“I actually screamed at my mother that day. She was crying all day about losing her son, but she didn’t even try to get justice for him.” Karen swallowed. “I did though. I made him pay. I was done. Didn’t care anymore what happened to me. I was in my senior year, admitted to four different schools all over the country, two of them with full scholarships, but I didn’t care. None of it mattered anymore. So I provoked Jeff. I dared him to try and hit me again. Called him the worst names I knew. Taunted him. Until he snapped. He managed to land a few blows. One of them bruised my liver, another gave me a concussion. But I got up, took my father’s gun that I’d hid in the room, and shot him. Busted his left lung. I can still hear the gargling sound it made.” Karen closed her eyes. “I wanted to finish him completely, but Mom wrestled the gun from my hands and called 911. Jeff survived and I was arrested. There was a new judge in town. Based on my injuries, he ruled the shot self-defense. Jeff got five years for attacking me, but the sentence was suspended because he can’t breathe on his own and needs constant medical care. Which my mother now provides.”

 

Karen opened her eyes and looked at Frank again.

 

“I wanted to kill him, Frank. I wanted to see him lifeless on the floor, just like Kevin. I wanted the paramedics to arrive and to shake their heads, just like they’d done with Kevin. I wanted … “ she broke off and looked around helplessly. “What does that make me, Frank? Who thinks like that?”

 

Frank brought one of his hands up to bury it in her hair and to cup the back of her head. He knew exactly how she felt. It was how he’d lain in bed for entire nights, imagining what he’d do to Rawlins, to Schoonover, to Billy. It was why he hadn’t stopped in Gunner’s lodge even when Madani arrived. It was what he’d seen in the eyes of the families of the enemy soldiers he’d killed.

 

“We all do. ‘s what makes us humans. No matter what kinda righteous shit people say. At the end of the day, we want revenge. Not justice,” he said resolutely.

 

Karen pressed her lips together.

 

“That wasn’t the only time, though,” she said with a large swallow. “There was another time when I just –“

 

She stopped again, and Frank gently massaged the back of her head to encourage her to go on.

 

“Two years ago, I was investigating Wilson Fisk, you know, the crime lord? He was the biggest drug dealer in the country before Rawlins and Schoonover launched their operation,” she recounted. Frank nodded briefly to show her that he knew who she meant.

 

“Fisk had this right-hand guy. His name was Wesley. One night, when I was on my way home, he attacked me from behind and drugged me. When I came to, I was at a table in an abandoned warehouse. Wesley was sitting opposite me. I don’t think he’d done his research on me properly because he’d placed his loaded gun on the table.”

 

Frank could imagine where this was going but he kept his face neutral.

 

“Fisk had paid off half the police force at the time, so I knew that whatever happened, I couldn’t count on them. Wesley tried to pressure me into revealing the current status of my investigations on Fisk, and into dropping all further research on him in the future – or he’d kill me. Then his phone rang.” Karen let out a long breath. “He was distracted for less than a second but it was enough. I took the gun. At first, he was laughing. Said I didn’t have it in me. When he tried to get up, I shot him. Six times. The whole round.”

 

Frank had to stop himself from making an appreciative noise. He didn’t think it was what Karen would want to hear right now, so he concentrated on massaging the back of her head.

 

“I could have just taken one shot,” Karen continued soundlessly. “But I didn’t.”

 

Frank hummed noncommittally. This was something he definitely could weigh in on.

 

“Nah, you couldn’t have. Shouldn’t have either,” he said matter-of-factly.

 

Karen blinked and looked at him as if he was crazy. Frank fixed her with a purposeful gaze.

 

“Maybe I got it wrong, but from what you’re telling me, you usually don’t handle weapons. Aren’t trained in using them,” he said.

“Back then, no. But I’ve learnt to handle a gun since then,” Karen protested.

 

Frank tilted his head as if to say “that’s what I mean”.

 

“ _Not back then_ though. You were drugged, facing off against a drug lord’s first man, without any real experience how to handle a gun. It was you or him. You had to make sure he stays down. But you didn’t know how to make sure that your shots would get to the right place, yeah? So you did the smart thing and hoped that at least one of them would hit home,” Frank explained simply.

 

Karen stared at him disbelievingly.  

 

“This isn’t some half-assed excuse to make you feel better,” Frank added earnestly. “It’s just the facts. It’s what military training would tell you to do. If you don’t know what you’re dealing with, if this is about protecting yourself or someone else, you use whatever force is necessary. Now, I ain’t saying that it’s a good thing. But it’s got the larges likelihood of success. And sometimes, that’s the only thing that counts.”

 

He could almost see the wheels turning in Karen’s head. She was one of the smartest people he knew, but he could tell that she was struggling with his reasoning – for reasons he could understand too well.

 

“It still feels wrong, like I shouldn’t have gone that far,” Karen finally said quietly.

Frank nodded.

“Mh-mh, I get that. But Karen, those moments, they’re not normal. What you do, how you do it, it’s not normal. It’s survival, it’s messy. Doesn’t define who you are,” he replied sincerely.

 

Karen fixed him with an apprehensive look.

“I’ve never told anyone about this. Ellison and Trish know most of what happened with Jeff, but I’ve never told anyone about Wesley,” she admitted nervously.

Pride swelled in Frank’s chest that she seemed to trust him enough to share something about her that no-one else knew about.

“What happened afterwards, though? Did Fisk come for ya?” Frank asked worriedly.

 

Karen shook her head.

 

“No, I don’t know why but he never did. I think Wesley was acting on his own, maybe to make himself look good to his boss by solving the problem that I was himself. I wiped the table in the warehouse with my sleeves and threw the gun into the water by the docks. For weeks I was laying low, always went out in company, but nothing ever happened. I was able to finish my investigations, and Fisk was put into jail,” she recounted.

 

Frank was immensely relieved that she’d been so lucky and cupped her cheek.

 

“Anything else I should know about?” he asked.

 

Karen shook her head. Frank moved even closer to her and leant his forehead against hers.

 

“Nothing of that changes the way I think of you, yeah? I mean that. ‘course it’s not pretty but you did what you had to. ‘specially with Jeff – the guy had it coming for him, provocation or not. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t even end up in that kinda situations, and we’re gonna work for that, but in the meantime, we gotta survive.” Karen’s lips curled into a small smile, and her eyes radiated a mixture of relief, happiness, and remaining traces of guilt.

 

“What about the shit I’ve done, though?” Frank asked, finally voicing that worry that had been lurking at the back of his mind. Karen had told him she was in love with him, and she hadn’t said a bad word about what he did to Rawlins or his plans for Schoonover, but he needed to know. “Doesn’t that bother you?”

 

Karen slowly wiggled her head.

 

“No. Yes. Mostly not.” She winced. “Rawlins… I get it, and it doesn’t really bother me. He hurt you, he killed your family. Russo – Russo betrayed you, he took me hostage, and ultimately, it was him or us. Schoonover though… I know that you’re bent on getting the death penalty for him, and I know that he was also involved in killing your family and covering it up, but…” She sighed. “I’m just wondering if his case is different because he’s actually in the legal system, and with you being – you know, the King - we can make sure the system works as it’s supposed to. The death penalty still exists but we haven’t used it in a long time, because both Kings and people didn’t feel it was right to take a life, no matter who’s it is. So… it’s not just you and him anymore. Schoonover involves an official system of principles now. That’s why out of the three of them, he bothers me. This could be a moment – a moment for you to do help this country become what you say you want it to be. Whatever you choose to do, it’s going to signal something for the country.”   

 

Frank was breathing heavily as he listened to her. Ever since he’d woken up in the hospital after the putsch he wanted nothing more than to march to Schoonover’s cell over at the city’s high-security prison and drag him to the executioner himself. But Karen had a point. When Schoonover was arrested, his case became different from that of Rawlins and Russo.

 

Karen placed a hand flat against his chest.

 

“Whatever you decide to do with Schoonover,” she said seriously. “It’s not a deal-breaker for me, ok?”

Frank nodded and chose to table his internal discussion on Schoonover for later. Instead, he focused entirely on Karen.

 

“We good then?” he asked quietly.

 

Karen nodded and closed her eyes with a smile.

 

Frank suppressed a relief sigh. Instead, he slowly nuzzled the side of her face and finally let his lips meet hers again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this story to the very end. 
> 
> Please let me know whether you liked the story by leaving a comment or a kudos!


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